Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards winners announced
The 2023 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards judges this week announced the winners of the second edition at the awards ceremony hosted in Windhoek.
In the fiction section, Roxane Bayer is the winner with her “Letters To Chloe.” Her winning short story is a sensitive piece about the changing nature of friendship and how it affects two friends who slowly grow apart. Bayer is one of the writers who was selected to be a member of the 2022-2023 Doek Collective, a group of Namibian writers who, through Doek’s efforts and nurturing, featured at the 2022 Doek Literary Festival and had their work published in Now Now: The 2023 Doek Anthology.
Nina Van Zyl’s “Motherhood”, was awarded the non-fiction award for an essay that explores her experience of pregnancy and child-rearing. In 2021, Van Zyl was longlisted for the Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards in the Visual Art category for her photo essay “Threshold.”
Veripuami Nandee Kangumine, the winner of the poetry section, writes poems that provide visceral sensorial explorations of trauma and violence. Her winning trio of poems—“Daughters Of A Witch”, “There Isn’t A Word In Your Language For Being Touched”, and “The Jackal Who Prepares You For Marriage” — are ruminations in the language of loss of identity, of innocence, and of bodily autonomy. These are typical occurrences that women in Namibia suffer and endure.
Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa’s photography series “The Gift” has been one of the best-received visual offerings in Doek! Literary Magazine. His use of black masculine figures to explore gentleness and sensuality has defined his photographic style. In 2021, Tjitamunisa was longlisted for the BWDLAs in the visual arts category.
From left to right, the 2023 Bank Windhoek Doek Literary Awards winners, Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa, Roxane Bayer, and Veripuami Nandee Kangumine, with Rémy Ngamije, the founder and chairperson of the Doek Arts Trust.
