Ellah Wakatama joins the panel of judges for the fourth Gerald Kraak Anthology and Prize

The Jacana Literary Foundation, in partnership with the Other Foundation, is delighted and honoured to welcome Ellah Wakatama to the panel of judges that will adjudicate the 2020/21 Gerald Kraak Anthology and Prize.

Wakatama will judge alongside head judge Otosirieze Obi-Young and Mark Gevisser.

‘It’s a rare privilege to have Ellah join this brilliant team.’ – Maggie Davey, publishing director of Jacana Media and chair of the Jacana Literary Foundation.

‘As one of the most influential editors in publishing, Ellah Wakatama has worked tirelessly to open doors for African writers at publishing houses, magazine and awards. We are privileged to have her bring her unique set experiences and ideas to the specific work that the Gerald Kraak Prize does, not only in sharing feminist and LGBTQI+ perspectives but in introducing new writers to the scene.’ – Otosirieze Obi-Young, head judge for the 2020/21 Gerald Kraak Anthology and Prize.

‘From Booker shortlistees to new voice, Ellah Wakatama has championed and mentored a generation of African writers, and has been awarded an OBE for these efforts. Deeply rooted in African literature and politics herself, she has impeccable judgement, and a deep commitment to African literature. I am thrilled at her appointment and the prospect of working with her on the Kraak Anthology and Prize.’ – Mark Gevisser, judge for the 2020/21 Gerald Kraak Anthology and Prize.

Ellah Wakatama is a writer, editor, publisher and critic. She has occupied key roles in publishing for many years, and has opened doors not only for individual African writers, and African writing in general, but Ellah has championed LGBTQI+ writers. So with this in mind, to have all of Ellah’s overlapping skills and passions to bring to bear on Africa’s key award on gender and sexuality, expressed in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and photography, is a boon, a boost and a blessing.

Otosirieze Obi-Young is a writer, editor, journalist and curator. He is editor of Folio Nigeria, CNN’s exclusive media affiliate in Nigeria. He is an editor at 14, Nigeria’s first queer art collective, and curator at the Art Naija Series, a sequence of e-anthologies exploring different aspects of Nigerianness. He was a judge for the Morland Writing Scholarship. He was deputy editor of Brittle Paper, where he curated the Brittle Paper Awards. His work in queer advocacy has been profiled in Literary Hub. In 2019, he received the Future Awards Africa Nigeria Prize for Literature.

Mark Gevisser‘s latest book, The Pink Link: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers, has been selected by Time, the Guardian and the Financial Times as one of the books of 2020. His previous books include Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred, which won the 2008 Sunday Times Alan Paton Award for Non-Fiction; and Lost and Found in Johannesburg: A Memoir (2012), which won the Recht Malan Prize and was shortlisted for both the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award and the Jan Michalski Prize for World Literature, and Portraits of Power: Profiles in a Changing South Africa. He frequently publishes journalism on sexuality and gender, and was the co-editor of the pathbreaking Defiant Desire, Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa. He was one of the organisers of Africa’s first Pride march in Johannesburg in 1990.