A well-attended and sumptuous event – excellent food and wine - was held on Tuesday, 24 April, 2007 in the Everard Read Gallery on the V & A Waterfront, Cape Town.  The occasion marked the launch of African Pens, the last in a series of three short-story collections promoted jointly by the SA PEN Centre, New Africa Books and HSBC Bank plc in Africa.  It also served as an opportunity to announce the three 2007 winners in the HSBC/SA PEN Literary Award with which the collection is associated. 

African Pens has followed up on African Compass [2005] and African Road [2006] both of which were linked to previous literary competitions.  All three collections contain short fiction selected from competition entries written by younger writers from South Africa and other SADC countries.  The idea of establishing a literary award and a series of publications to showcase new writing from Southern Africa came originally from SA PEN president, Anthony Fleischer and his wife, Dolores.  It was supported by SA PEN’s executive, some of whom offered help on the Editorial Board.  The Fleischers had played a major role during the 1960s in producing a five volume series of New South African Writing under the aegis of the SA PEN Centre.  On that occasion the Centre had worked with the publisher, Purnell.  This time round it was able forge an association with New Africa Books.  Krishna Patel of HSBC offered to put up prizes totaling US$ 10,000 per annum over a three year period and BASA [Business & Arts South Africa] added support.

In order to uncover new talent from the SADC countries, the organisers decided to limit competition entry to authors who were no older than 40 on the closing date.  Entrants also had to be citizens of those countries.  Stories were to be between 2 500 and 5 000 words.  Even with these restrictions, much material came in on each of the three occasions, and, if anything, gathered in volume.

In 2007 over 300 short-stories were entered, mostly from South Africa but also notably from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana and Mauritius.  SA PEN wishes to thank the 20 qualified ‘sifter’ readers who worked pro bono on the original intake.  No short-story was read by fewer than two ‘sifter’ readers and some were read by as many as four.  A list of 96 stories came eventually to the Editorial Board who then had to agree on the 31 that would go into African Pens.  The same 31 stories were despatched to JM Coetzee in Australia who decided on the three prize-winners and who made comments on the selection as a whole.  The whole process- from the ‘sifters’ at the base to the Nobel Laureate at the apex of the pyramid – was completed without the identity of any author being known.  SA PEN is proud of sustaining this policy in a part of the world in which partisan interests can often skew judgement. 

All three of the prize-winners were present at the launch personally to receive their awards.  Henrietta Rose-Innes took first prize for Poison, a compelling imagined scenario of a Cape Town in crisis.  Rose-Innes has studied in UCT’s Centre for Creative Writing.  She has already published two novels, Shark’s Egg [Kwela, 2000] and The Rock Alphabet [Kwela, 2004].  Second prize went to Petina Gappah, a Zimbabwean writer with law degrees from the Universities of Zimbabwe, Cambridge and Graz in Austria.  Gappah currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a member of the African Writers Abroad Chapter of International PEN.  She is working on her first novel.  Her prize-winning At the Sound of the Last Post is described by J M Coetzee as ‘a darkly amusing short story about Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.’  

Stanley Onjezani Kenani was mugged in Johannesburg at gun point the night before the launch and spent the day at OR Tambo Airport explaining that his ticket had been stolen, but that he was booked on a flight to Cape Town.  After many hiccups he eventually boarded a flight to Cape Town and arrived late in the evening to receive his prize for a story concerning the ravages of HIV/AIDS which is set in Malawi.  The author of For Honour was born in 1976 and ‘tasted the first fruits of his writing skills at the age of 18 when he won a national UNESCO essay-writing competition.’  Kenani studied for an accountancy degree at the University of Malawi and has won other prizes for short stories.  At the present time he is President of the Malawi Writers’ Union and acting treasurer of the Pan African Writers’ Association.

In his comment on the short stories selected for the third volume, J M Coetzee is ‘happy to report that the standard of work in 2007 is notably higher than in 2006 or in 2005.’  Over and above the three prize-winners he cites three stories that ‘deserve the highest mention.’  These are The day of the surgical colloquium hosted by the Far East Rand Hospital by Gill Schierhout, Safe Home by Nadia Davids, and a second story by Petina Gappah called Rotten Row.  Five other stories ‘that merit inclusion in any anthology’ are identified by Coetzee.  These are Tears by Sean Mitchell, Buffalo panting at the Moon by Alexandra Smith, Archives of the hangman by Claire Gaul, The picture of James Plaatje by Fiona Moolla and Animal Farm by Mehluli Nxumalo.  Other authors with work included in this prestigious collection are Michelle Sacks, Vrenika Pather, Morné Malan, Steven Marston, Matt Mbanga, Renée Bonorchis, Elizabeth Bishop, Lee Olivier, Christopher Mlalazi, Linda McCullough, Malcolm Cumming, Karen Jennings, Richard Walne, Deborah Klein, CA Davids, Kyne Nislev Bernstoff, Clare Butcher, Karlien van der Schyff, and Carolyn Weir.

It is encouraging to note that the sustained project gained in momentum through the three years of its life, and that African Pens concludes it on a high note.  Not only is African Pens an up-to-date buy reflecting the cutting edge of creative writing in the SADC region;  it also re-awakens interest in its two predecessors, African Compass and African Road.  Bundled together, the three volumes represent a significant moment in African literature and will no doubt gain in value as Africana as the years go by.  The project has given an enhanced profile to the South African PEN Centre both in Africa and in the international PEN community.  It is to be hoped that a further venture of this scope and quality can be launched at some time in the future.

SA PEN would like to thank Everard Read Gallery for sponsoring the launch venue, Solms-Delta for providing the wines imbibed at the launch, and the staff of Out of This Planet Catering for providing delicious nibbles and excellent service.