Tsitsi Dangarembga, a Zimbabwean author and filmmaker, has been awarded the Peace Prize of the German book trade. Karin, president of the German Book Trade Association, said the 62-year-old has managed to “bring a society so close to us that we can’t fully understand it, but can relate it to ourselves, to ourselves, and to our imperfections.” Schmidt-Friderichs, on Sunday in Frankfurt.
Dangarembga is “the widely heard voice for Africa in contemporary literature.” St Paul’s Church has been praised by German-Kenyan scholar and sociologist Uma Obama. “You are not ordinary, ordinary life was not an option for you,” she said of her friend. And: “You are one of the most successful and important voices on the African continent and we hope you will soon receive the award worldwide.”
Dangarembga published her acclaimed debut novel “Nervous Conditions” in 1988 as the first part of her autobiographical trilogy. Using the example of a teenage woman, the three books describe the struggle for the right to a decent life and women’s self-determination in Zimbabwe.
From 1989 to 1996, Dangarembja studied film directing in Berlin and then returned to Zimbabwe with her German husband. In her films, she deals with the problems that arise from the clash of tradition and modernity. The Peace Prize is worth 25,000 Euros.
