Zambian Namwali Serpell wins Caine Prize, shakes things up

She has it in the bag, or should I say in the sack. Namwali Serpell was yesterday awarded the Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story, The Sack. (Silly pun intended.) Namwali is the first Zambian to win the prize and in another first, she announced that she’ll share her prize money with the other four finalists: Masanade Ntshanga, FT Kola, Elnathan John and Segun Afolabi. 

The win is great for Namwali but also other Zambian writers. Zambia doesn’t exactly have the most vibrant of writing scenes (although things are looking up) so to see a compatriot nominated for a prestigious writing award is encouraging.  As every other Oscar winner seems to say, "it’s an honour just being nominated.” I first heard of Namwali when she was nominated for the Caine Prize (for her short story Muzungu) in 2010. I didn’t know who on earth she was but it was reassuring to hear of a notable Zambian writer, even if she was based in the US.

From left to right: Masanade Ntshanga, FT Kola, Elnathan John, Namwali Serpell and Segun Afolabi 

Image credit: CNN

As for Namwali’s decision to share her prize money, this is how she explained it:

 “It was an act of mutiny for me. I wanted to change the structure of the prize because I felt that for the writers its very awkward to be placed in this position of competition with other writers that you respect immensely in this American Idol or race horse situation when actually you want to support each other.”

There certainly is a competitive element to writing. If I gain an opportunity, I’m ‘taking it away’ from someone else. With seemingly few opportunities for writers in Zambia, it’s easy for us to become overly competitive or become so overwhelmed by the competitive aspect that we stop trying. The latter is more my experience. I believe that as much as we should fight for opportunities, it’s also important for writers to support each other. I have a few writer friends who can share in the frustrations of trying get a career off the ground. Some of these friends are talented but for a number of reasons will not even put there writing out there. Namwali’s win is not just for her; a lot of Zambian writers will be spurred on by her nomination and win and that’s a wonderful thing.

Anyone can learn from Namwali's act of mutiny though, not just writers. We're conditioned to compete from an early age. We're encouraged to be the best in class and on the sports field and that pressure continues throughout life. However, no matter how hard we try, there will always be someone smarter, better looking, with a better job and seemingly, an overall better life. Often we're better off sharing in our successes rather than obsessively competing to get to the top and stay there. 

Upon hearing that Namwali would share her prize money and her reason for sharing it, I recalled a Tedx Talk, titled Trust Your Struggle, by CNN International anchor Zain Asher. During the talk Zain tells her audience how she got her dream job, and it wasn't through ruthless competition. In fact, she even spoke of how she helped out a lady who was interviewing for the very same anchor job she was after. As she wraps up, Zain says:

"I don't believe in competing for what I want, I believe in creating what I want. In order to be successful I don't need to take anything away from anyone else…Having a competitive spirit, having that need for one-upmanship and comparing yourself to other people again and again can actually bring out fears and insecurities that end up holding you back."

Competition has its place and its advantages but we sometimes benefit from doing away with it. That a Zambia won Africa's most prestigious literary prize is great. That she chose to recognise her 'competitors' and share her prize money with them is even better.