Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Kondwani Nankhumwa will on Saturday preside over the National Literary Awards organized by the Malawi Writers Union (MAWU) at Jacaranda Cultural Centre in Blantyre.
MAWU President Mike Sambalikagwa Mvona said they settled for Nankhumwa because of his passion for writing.
Said Mvona: “The guest of honour will be Honourable Kondwani Nankhumwa, who is also a gifted writer himself. He has published a lot of short stories in the local outlets. So being a writer and a top government official, we felt he is qualified enough to preside over this event,” said Mvona.
The awards were launched in June last year with an aim of encouraging quality. Mvona said apart from the actual awards, a women’s anthology, which is discussing some of the issues affecting women in the country will also be launched.
“This is an adult novel awards. In most cases in Malawi we have very few novels which are in the bookshops, we therefore, thought of having these awards as a way of encouraging writing of quality novels in the country. We will be awarding six people with the first winner going home with K1million,” he said.
The awards are sponsored by the Norwegian Embassy in Malawi, and according to Mvona, the Deputy Norwegian ambassador to Malawi will grace the function.