Maltese scholar to chair Commonwealth Writers' Prize

The boards of the Commonwealth Foundation, Booktrust and Cumberland Lodge have appointed Daniel Massa of the University of Malta as chairman of the 2005 pan Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

The panel is tasked with selecting the best novel and the best first novel of 2004. For the purpose of this award, the Commonwealth divides into four regions: Africa, Canada and the Caribbean; Europe and Asia; South East Asia and the South Pacific. Chaired by a distinguished academic, each year four regional adjudicating panels of scholars are appointed in these areas.

Established in 1987, this prestigious award, which carries a main prize of £10,000, celebrates the narrative skills and perceptive insight on the human condition in the Commonwealth novel. Each year, it attracts numerous writers and publishers from all over the world. Last year, Caryl Philips' A Distant Shore, a thoroughly moving novel where "the everyday and the appalling walk hand in hand with utter conviction" won the award. Since then, critical appreciation as well as sales have soared.

Previous award winners have included Janet Frame, David Malouf, Peter Carey and Vikram Seth - major figures on the world's literary landscape. J.M. Coatzee who won in 2000 with Disgrace went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003 for writing which "in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider".

The regional boards are tasked with short-listing eight novels by February 2005 - the best novel and the best "first" novel of each region which will then be eligible for the final award in both categories. In March 2005, over two or three days of intensive deliberation, the regional chairmen will be meeting under the chairmanship of Prof. Massa to select overall winners of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Later on this year, the Commonwealth Foundation and Cumberland Lodge will be sponsoring a literary festival in Malta during which the finalists and the overall winners of the Commonwealth Winners' Prize will be participating. This will be a great opportunity for Maltese to witness at first hand the outstanding literacy talent and strength of contemporary writing. The festival will coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2005.

Poet and literary critic, Prof. Massa introduced the teaching of Commonwealth Literature at the University of Malta in the 1970s. He has published several books and articles, as well as lectured on the subject in numerous Commonwealth universities. Besides also being on the adjudicating panel of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, he was convener of the "Individual and Community in Commonwealth Literature" conference for European ACLALS Association.