African literary prizes and languages

       I've often expressed my disappointment at the lack of inclusiveness of international literary prizes in their focus on works written or at least translated into English (such as the Man Booker International Prize), and particularly my disappointment that there isn't a greater effort in India and Africa to really consider all the contemporary fiction being produced, not just that written in or available in English. The new Etisalat Prize for African literature (see my previous mention) continues this unfortunate tradition and emphasis -- it is a prize solely for written-in-English African literature -- and in the Weekly Trust Carmen McCain rightly asks: African Literary Prizes: Where are the translations ?
       I'm looking forward to a time when there will be leading African literary prize that is willing to consider the entire literary output of the continent (and that also means: not just of the sub-continent). The diversity of the books that would be in contention would both nicely demonstrate that 'Africa' is a vast and varied continent that doesn't just produce a specific kind of fiction (i.e. that 'African fiction' is no less varied than 'European' or 'Asian' fiction) but also show that the many languages which are spoken (and written in) on the continent offer additional layers of richness, just as the wonderful variety of European, Asian, etc. languages do. And it would certainly be encouraging to authors who don't write in a dominant language (usually: English).