Children's book wins African Nobel prize.
From the Guardian:
The Wole Soyinka is a pan-African prize for literature designed "to celebrate excellence in all its cerebral grace, its liberating qualities, the honour and recognition it brings to a myriad of people, of diverse cultures and languages" and to operate as "the African Nobel prize for literature". Indeed, it's named after the first sub-Saharan African to win the Nobel prize proper, Wole Soyinka, who took the laureateship in 1986.
That a young adult fantasy novel should win such a prestigious prize is - as the always interesting Cheryl Morgan from Science Fiction Awards Watch suggested to me - both highly unusual and "pretty awesome".
Neither of the reviews I've read about Zahra the Windseeker were raves, but I'm certainly curious. Adding it to my list!