Kenyan author Peter Kimani has been nominated for a top literary award in the United States.
The former Standard newspaper editor is among six writers nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, one of the US’s biggest award for black writers. The award is given in honour of Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright, the pioneer African-American authors in the 1940s.
Kimani earned the nomination for his fictional novel, “Dance of the Jakaranda”, which was published by Akashic Books.
Other nominees include Alain Mabanckou, author of “Black Moses”, Lesley Nneka Arimah, author of “What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky”, Ernest J Gaines, author of “The Tragedy of Brady Sims”, Yewande Omotoso’s “The Woman Next Door” and Jesmyn Ward, author of “Sing, Unburied Sing.”
Kimani’s “Dance of the Jakaranda” was named in the Notable 100 Books of 2017 by New York Times. The book has also been featured in some of the renowned publications in several countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa and the Unites States.
“I have toured the world extensively over the past year, attending some of the world’s biggest book festivals, from New York’s PEN World Voices, to Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles, to Calabash Lit-fest, a biennial event in Jamaica,” Kimani says.
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award ceremony will be held in Washington in mid-October, where the winner will be announced.
