Incredible South African writer Zukiswa Wanner has been awarded this year’s Goethe Medal. The award presented by the Goethe Institut, is an annual given on behalf of the German government to individuals “who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations“.
Wanner receives the award alongside Bolivia’s Elvira Espejo Ayca, the Director of the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore (MUSEF) in La Paz, Bolivia, and British writer and former Man Booker Prize winner, Ian McEwan, OkayAfrica Reports.
The prolific writer is known for writing several books over the years, Men of the South, The Madams, Hardly Working, to name a few. She’s also written two children’s titles namely Jama Loves Bananas and Refilwe––the African retelling of the fairy tale Rapunzel.
“Her conception of herself as an African writer leads her to range far beyond national frontiers in her writing, while at the same time bringing the diversity of African culture into her artistic work. Her detailed knowledge of South African literature and her nuanced understanding of regional discourses and female identity in Africa means her expertise is internationally sought after; she is also a role model for an entire generation of African writers.”
Commenting on the selection of Wanner as this year’s winner, the Goethe Institut writes.
