In its bid to contribute to the encouragement of writing in Hausa language, the most populous Chadic language and the major language of West Africa, the Gusau Institute has rewarded three winners of the Aliyu Mohammed Research Library Book Prize.
Daily Trust gathered that the annual award is open to new works of fiction or non-fiction written in Hausa and meant to celebrate the cultural richness Hausa lends to several populations across state borders.
Speaking at the presentation of awards to prize winners yesterday, Lieutenant General Mohammed Gusau (rtd) said the competition is aimed at ensuring the Hausa Language is developed to compete with other languages globally.
Represented by Ambassador Ahmed Magaji, Gusau said, “Hausa is ranked as the 11th language out of 10, 000 and is spoken by over 80 million people globally, which shows how important Hausa is in the world. Unfortunately, the owners of the language are not proud of it and thereby prefer speaking English rather than Hausa.”
He called on Hausa writers to continuously seek for knowledge to perfect their work and urged them to continue to write in Hausa language so that future generations will have books to fall back to.
On his part, Librarian of the institute, Muhammad Sulieman while speaking on the competition said, “Entrants to the Aliyu Mohammed Book Prize competition are asked to submit an excerpt of their manuscript, along with a 500-word synopsis and the three writers who make the shortlist, will be asked to send in a completed manuscript.
“The competition is judged by a rotating panel of four people consisting of a publisher, editor, translator and an established writer and at the end, the total worth of the prize which is N500,000 of which N300,000 will be a cash prize for the author. The balance will go towards editing and layout services, and the printing of 100 copies of the book for sale at the Kaduna Book and Art Festival (KABAFEST).”
Highlighting some services rendered by the institute, he said, “The GI was established based on the firm belief that Africa needs a world-class centre of philosophy and learning which is global in its orientation and yet able to achieve a unique perspective, based on its location and the Afro-centric source of its modus vivendi.”
He said the institute, since inception, has donated more than 60,000 books to schools and universities and has established a writer-in-residence programme where a renowned Sierra Leonean writer, Ishmael Beah, was the first participant early in 2018.
