The "long list" of the 2012 Soyinka Prize for Literature is out. I congratulate the authors on the list and applaud the Lumina Foundation for helping to keep the stories of Africa alive.
Pet peeve: I hate to come across as negative, but a prize whose announcement dispenses with the use of a good editor does not inspire much in terms of confidence. This announcement is rife with grammatical challenges and sends a strong message that the Soyinka Prize should not be taken seriously. I am disappointed that Professor Soyinka appended his venerable name to this self-serving tosh. Why do so many of our people invest in mediocrity?
You read this press release and you snort with derision at the organizers' claims that this is the "African Nobel." Everything here is shabby mimicry, down to the atrocious grammatically challenged poetry in the "press release." All sizzle and no suya.
The prize is too generous. Take $10,000 out of the prize and invest in a good editor and some organizational skills to clean up its atrocious website and act. And stop the silly comparison to the Nobel. Have some self-confidence, folks.
Don't believe me? Read the "press release here. *shaking my head*
- Ikhide
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