Intwasa writing entries deadline extended

Standard People
BY KHULANI NKABINDE Organisers of the annual Intwasa Arts Festival have extended the deadline for both the IsiNdebele and English short story writing competitions up to the end of this month.

The deadline had been set for mid-month.

Festival administrator, Runyararo Mutandi told StandardLife &Style that the main reason for the extension had been “poor entries”.

“We have not received any good entries, especially in the Ndebele category,” she said.

“The entries we received have been very disappointing. We would like to have some more material that is written in indigenous languages.”

She said in the IsiNdebele essay writing competition, the idea was to honour the late novelist, Ndabezinhle Sigogo, who is the most published writer in IsiNdebele with over 20 published books to his name.

“The award was particularly introduced to promote creative writing in IsiNdebele.”

She said a lot of entries were, however, received in the English essay writing category.

“The English entries are very interesting, as some of the entries were from faraway places like Greece,” she said.

The English award is named after the late Yvonne Vera, who was arguably the best writer in English to have emerged from the City of Kings and Queens.

She won many awards, locally and internationally, for her writing.

The awards carry a monetary award of US$500 each for the senior category and US$200 for juniors.