Writer Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu wins prestigious international literary award
By City Life Arts writer
One of Southern Africa’s prominent literary voices Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu has won a major literary award.
“Pan South Africa is delighted to congratulate our author, Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, for winning the Best International Fiction Book prize at the 44th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) for her fourth novel, The Creation of Half-Broken People.”
This major international award further cements Ndlovu’s status as one of the continent’s most powerful literary voices. The novel is also currently shortlisted for the 2025 Sunday Times Fiction Prize.
Literary Agent, Aoife Lennon-Ritchie collected this prestigious award on behalf of Siphiwe at the SIBF, one of the world’s largest publishing events, held in Sharjah, the cultural and literary hub of the UAE.
“We are incredibly proud to see Siphiwe’s extraordinary talent recognised on such a major international stage,” said Terry Morris, MD at Pan Macmillan SA. “The Creation of Half-Broken People is a fearless, brilliant novel, and thisNdlovu’s The Creation of Half-Broken Peopletells the tale of a nameless woman plagued by visions. The novel explores how the continent’s past continues to haunt its present and examines the collusion of colonialism, patriarchy and capitalism in creating and normalising a certain kind of womanhood.
Ndlovu was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.She is the author of four novels. Her first, The Theory of Flight, won the 2019 Sunday Times Fiction Prize and is a school setwork in South Africa. It was followed by The History of Man, which won the prestigious Windham Campbell Prize, and The Quality of Mercy. The Creation of Half-Broken People is her fourth novel.
Ndlovu’s work is published in South Africa and North America, and has been translated into Arabic and Italian.