World-renowned Zimbabwean author and filmmaker, Tsitsi Dangarembga has added another feather to her cap after she was recently awarded the Norwegian Publishers’ Association 2023 Freedom of Expression Award.
An outspoken critic of the Zimbabwean government, Dangarembga was arrested on July 31, 2020, for waving placards denouncing corruption by senior government officials.
She was later convicted, together with her friend Julie Barnes, for incitement to cause violence.
Posting on Twitter, Dangarembga expressed joy at being conferred the prestigious accolade.
“I am honoured to have been recognised by the Norwegian Publishers’ Association with their 2023 Freedom of Expression Award,” she said.
Dangarembga, now aged 66, is no stranger to winning awards. Her 2006 film, Peretera Maneta, received the UNESCO Children’s and Human Rights Award and won the Zanzibar International Film Festival.
She is mostly known for her award-winning book Nervous Conditions, which became her big break in 1988. The novel was published in the United Kingdom, and a year later in the United States, and went on to propel her to international acclaim.
Moreover, the novel Nervous Conditions was named as one of the top 100 books that have changed the world.
In 1989, it won the African section of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Prior to this award, Dangarembga had won the second prize in a short story competition of the Swedish aid organisation, SIDA.
In 2006, The Independent named Dangarembga one of the 50 greatest artists shaping African literature on the continent.
She is the executive director of Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe and the founding director of the Women’s Film Festival of Harare.