Feminist writer and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga wins Pen Prize for This Mournable Body
By Edward Tsumele
In 2020, the Booker Prize might have eluded feminist writer and filmmaker, Tsisti Dangrabga, in which she was one of the three finalists for the world’s richest prize, but you cannot stop a good woman writer.
On Wednesday, Dangarembga was declared the 2021 winner of the Pen Prize for her critically acclaimed novel This Mournable Body.
The acclaimed writer looms large on Africa’s literary landscape, especially for her kind of writing, that does not only have empathy with her female characters, but she treats them with the necessary sensitivity that does not fail to touch the sensibilities of her readers.
She also does the same with her films.
“Jacana Media is thrilled to announce that Tsitsi Dangarembga, who was recently shortlisted for the Booker Prize, has been awarded the PEN Pinter Prize. The committee praised Dangarembga for her “ability to capture and communicate vital truths even amidst times of upheaval” a statement released by her local publishers Jacana stated.
PEN Pinter Prize judge, renowned publisher and judge of the Jacana Literary Foundation and The Other Foundation’s Gerald Kraak Award, Ellah P Wakatama, said that “It is an honour to join my colleagues in raising up the voice of a woman whose words have written the story of my country of birth with a clarity, bravery and honesty that is a rare and precious gift.”
To celebrate this honour, Jacana is selling This Mournable Body at a discounted price of 50%.