Last night, my novel Zahrah the Windseeker was awarded the Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literature (Fiction). The award was presented by poet and the publisher of Third World Press Haki Madhubuti and sponsored by the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago.
Oh, what a night!! I'll tell you, I did not expect to win. Not-at-all. But I should have known something wonderful was going to happen when I got the PERFECT parking spot right in front of the entrance (the place was packed and I'd arrived five mins late!) and the spot was behind a shiny black Bentley.
This lot was full but for some reason, I drove up to the entrance, anyway. I was shocked as the security guard moved the "lot full" sign for me and told me that there happened to be exactly ONE spot left. :-D!! "Don't scratch the Bentley," she warned me.
It was such an honor to be recognized in this way, in this city (Chicago). Zahrah the Windseeker had such a rough start when it was released in 2005 because bad luck (including my editor Andrea Pinkney leaving my publisher Houghton Mifflin a week before Zahrah the Windseeker's release).
Then in 2008, the novel won the Wole Soyinka Prize in Nigeria. It was presented to me by literary/political icon Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka in Lagos. That night was the first night I felt truly recognized as a novelist. From then on, Zahrah the Windseeker was on the radar. And now, Zahrah has been recognized in the United States by the African American community (in this case, the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago) and the prize was presented by another literary and political icon, Haki Madhubuti.
It's poetic. And there's a lesson in here somewhere. I know what it is.
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| The stage. The Award ceremony was held in the historical Dusable Museum of African American History. |
