2011 Commonwealth Prize Shortlists Announced

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize has announced it's regional shortlists for the Best Book and Best First Book awards. Noted below are the author's home and where to source the book in Canada (if available).

Africa Best Book:

The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone, Atlantic Monthly/PGC)
Men of the South by Zukiswa Wanner (South Africa, NB Publishers)
The Unseen Leopard by Bridget Pitt (South Africa)
Oil on Water by Helon Habila (Nigeria, Hamish Hamilton/Penguin)
Blood at Bay by Sue Rabie (South Africa, NB Publishers)
Banquet at Brabazan by Patricia Schonstein (South Africa, Jacana Media)

Africa Best First Book:

Happiness is a Four Letter Word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)
Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke (Nigeria/ Virago UK)
The Fossil Artist by Graeme Friedman (South Africa)
Colour Blind by Uzoma Uponi (Nigeria)
Voice of America by E. C. Osondu (Nigeria/HarperCollins U.S.)
Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce (South Africa)

Canada and Caribbean Best Book:

The Sky is Falling by Caroline Adderson (Canada/Thomas Allen)
Room by Emma Donahue (Canada/ HarperCollins Canada)
The Master of Happy Endings by Jack Hodgins (Canada/Thomas Allen)
In The Fabled East by Adam Lewis Schroeder (Canada/D&M)
The Death of Donna Whalen by Michael Winter (Canada/Hamish Hamilton/Penguin)
Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard by Richard B. Wright (Canada? HarperCollins Canada)

Canada and Caribbean Best First Book:

Bird Eat Bird by Katrina Best (Canada/Insomniac Press)
Doing Dangerously Well by Carole Enahoro (Canada/Random House)
Mennonites Don’t Dance by Darcie Friesen Hossack (Canada/Thistledown Press)
Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod (Canada/Biblioasis)
The Cake is for the Party by Sarah Selecky (Canada/Thomas Allen)
Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco (Canada/Penguin)

South Asia and Europe Best Book:

Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela (UK/ HarperCollins Canada)
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore (UK/Fig Tree/Penguin )
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (UK, Random House)
The Long Song by Andrea Levy (UK)
Sex and Stravinsky by Barbara Trapido (UK, Bloomsbury UK)
Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett (UK, Knoff/)

South Asia and Europe Best First Book:

Serious Men by Manu Joseph (India/ HarperCollins Canada)
Saraswati Park by Anjali Joseph (India, Harper Collins U.K.)
The House with the Blue Shutters by Lisa Hilton (UK, Corvus)
Children of the Sun by Max Shaefer (Granta UK)
Grace Williams says it Loud by Emma Henderson (UK/Sceptre/Hodder)
Sabra Zoo by Mischa Hiller (UK/Telegram)

South East Asia and Pacific Best Book:

Reading Madame Bovary by Amanda Lohrey (Australia)
That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (Australia)
Time’s Long Ruin by Stephen Orr (Australia)
Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand/Random House Canada)
Notorious by Roberta Lowing (Australia)
Gifted by Patrick Evans (New Zealand)

South East Asia and Pacific Best First Book:

21 Immortals by Rozlan Mohd Noor (Malaysia)
A Man Melting by Craig Cliff (New Zealand)
The Graphologist’s Apprentice by Whiti Hereaka (New Zealand)
The Body in the Clouds by Ashley Hay (Australia)
Traitor by Stephen Daisley (Australia/New Zealand)
A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill (Australia)

According to the Commonwealth Foundation website, the regional winners of the Best Book and Best First Book prizes will be announced on the 3rd March, with the final programme commencing on the 16th May at Sydney Writers’ Festival in Australia. The finalists from the four different regions of the Commonwealth will be brought together, and the two overall winners will be announced on the 21st May.