The winner of the maiden edition of the Etisalat Prize for Literature, NoViolet Bulawayo has, in a genuine demonstration of sportsmanship, gifted her runner-up, Yewande Omotosho the Fellowship attached to her winning.
Expressing her magnanimity, the author of ‘We Need New Names’ Bulawayo from Zimbabwe said: “My prior commitment to a fellowship at Stanford University will not permit me to take advantage of the Etisalat Fellowship aspect of the prize and I have gifted it to my runner-up, Yewande Omotosho in the hope that her participation would further promote the values that Etisalat Nigeria sought to achieve with this literary prize”.
The Etisalat Fellowship is a unique £10,000 fellowship to the winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature lasting four months in the UK, at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and mentored by Professor Giles Foden, author of the Last King of Scotland.
The fellow will take residency at the University of East Anglia joining members of the school of literature, drama and creative writing.
NoViolet Bulawayo and Yewande Omotoso are set to attend the World’s Literature Festival 2014 which takes place during the fellowship.
The Worlds Festival hosts a gathering of writers from across the globe to celebrate and discuss works of literature. Nobel Laureate and MAN Booker Prize Winner J M Coetzee is one of the writers participating at this year’s festival.
