Random House Struik and Zebra Press are proud to announce that Andrew Brown has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2009 for Best Book in the Africa region for his novel, Refuge.
“I am absolutely thrilled that Refuge has been short-listed for the Africa region of the Commonwealth fiction awards and I am humbled and honoured to be associated with the names of all the previously short-listed writers. My writing is ultimately motivated by the invigoration I feel at living in this extraordinary continent – so to be included amongst the writers that Africa has produced, and continues to produce, is recognition beyond my most imaginative dreams,” said Brown.
The Commonwealth awards are aimed at promoting fiction that might otherwise not reach a wider audience, thereby increasing an appreciation of different cultures. Refuge is an attempt to address the seemingly ever-widening gap between locals and ‘foreigners’ within South Africa, and the concerning lack for appreciation that we display for the culture of others. It is my hope that the book will in some small way cause those who read it to reconsider their attitude towards the displaced and desperate bodies that inhabit the stairwells and alleyways around them” says Andrew Brown.
Marlene Fryer, Publisher of Zebra Press, says “We are thrilled about Andrew’s shortlisting. He is one of South Africa’s most exciting novelists, and this recognition is well deserved.”
Refuge will now go through to the next phase of the competition, where the Africa regional judging panel will meet to decide the two regional Commonwealth winners for Best Book and Best First Book. The regional winners will be announced at an event on 11 March in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Andrew Brown won the Sunday Times 2006 Fiction Prize for Coldsleep Lullaby and was shortlisted for the 2009 Alan Paton Award for Street Blues.
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As the countdown begins to the 2009 Sunday Times Literary Awards in Johannesburg on August 1, we look at two of the shortlisted writers.Tymon Smith spoke to Andrew Brown, who wrote Street Blues to shatter popular misconceptions about the police.
This is your first work of non-fiction. Why did you decide to write about your experiences as a police reservist?
There were a number of motivations for writing the book. I had already started writing down some of my experiences — not to publish them, but to help me work through some of the traumas that I was exposed to while working with the police. After Coldsleep Lullaby did so well and won the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, I actually felt quite intimidated at the idea of writing again — I hadn’t until then thought of myself as a writer and so I wrote without any pressure, simply for the enjoyment of it. After the award, it suddenly felt that there were expectations of me and I thought that writing about my own experiences — where I didn’t need to make up the characters or the stories — would be an easy way to get over my anxiety. But a strong motivation was also to try and debunk some of the stereotypes about the police force (many of which I held myself before joining). My 10 years as a reservist have changed the way I see the police; I have enormous respect and fondness for them.
What inspired you to join the reservists?
I had been involved in the UDF in the ’80s and this had given me a real sense that I was contributing towards the community. After 1990, my involvement fell away as I am not a political animal and I couldn’t see myself working in the ANC. I then read an article about my local police station (Mowbray) and how it was battling with a lack of vehicles. I offered to assist, although joining the reservists was the last thing on my mind — my experiences in the ’80s had left me with a huge distrust of the police and I viewed them as dangerous, even in the ’90s. But then a particularly committed inspector, who was the head of the reservists, slowly cajoled me into accepting the idea.
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