ICYMI: Award ceremony celebrates local authors
JOBURG– The AfriCAN Authors' Awards were birthed to honour and facilitate the economic, transformative and healing power of South African stories across the continent and the world.
Founder of AfriCAN Child Your Time is Now, Anthea Thyssen-Ambursley hosted the third annual AfriCAN Authors’ Awards on 31 July at the Mozambik restaurant in Beverley.
The AfriCAN Authors’ Awards were birthed to honour and facilitate the economic, transformative and healing power of South African stories across the continent and the world. The awards event is held annually on 31 July to celebrate Thyssen-Ambursley’s birthday.
Thyssen-Ambursley said the awards were aimed at self-publishing, car-boot selling authors and children authors. “The award-winning books are selected from remarkable people in the communities – ordinary people that are making a huge difference in their communities, inspiring them about the possibilities out there to become the best version of themselves,” said Thyssen-Ambursley.
She explained that the platform sought to promote ordinary people’s stories which transformed lives to become extraordinary. It shares stories of healing, unity, restoration and the dismantling of superficial boundaries.
“As Africans, we have been stripped of our identity and our stories were written and told for and on behalf of us. We watched as our cultures were appropriated, however, through the awards, we seek to restore our people’s dignity and voices.
“It is time for us to build our families, our community, our country and our continent together.”
Thyssen-Ambursley said 250 submissions were received and 100 nominations from various categories were identified at the awards. A few of the winners included 14-year-old Kenyan child author Natalie Wambui, 82-year-old Julia Albu who wrote My African Conquest: Cape to Cairo at 80; Own n a Mzee which was the first Swahili book to be nominated for an AfriCAN Authors’ Award and I choose to live by Letshego Zulu which unpacks her journey following her racing champion husband Gugulethu Zulu’s death while summiting Mount Kilimanjaro and more.
The awards also support the literacy project Feed a Mind which aims to create child authors and facilitate a space for to leave behind written stories.
of their hand projects to encourage unemployed youth to embrace self-reliance through their hands for their basic needs.
