The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom has awarded renowned author Tsitsi Dangarembga the Africa Freedom Prize for her courage and dedication to advancing the cause of freedom, democracy, and human rights on the African continent.
Dangarembga has long been one of Zimbabwe’s most highly regarded and beloved fiction writers from her lauded first novel Nervous Conditions in 1988 to This Mournable Body, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020. She is the first Black, Zimbabwean woman writer to publish a novel in English. She has also been awarded the 2021 PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression.
She has made headlines for her political activism and was convicted by a Zimbabwean court in 2022 of “inciting violence” after staging a peaceful protest with a friend during which the two women stood quietly on a roadside holding placards calling for political reform. That conviction was overturned earlier this year by a higher court.
Previous winners of the Africa Freedom Prize are Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Courtesy: allafrica.com