Nadine Gordimer celebrates 80 years with a prize

The 80 years of Nadine Gordimer's life are going to be celebrated and honoured at a gala dinner on the November 15, 2003, in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, South Africa.

Gordimer, the first South African Nobel Literature Prize winner and one of the only seven female writers the world over to have been accorded this accolade, will be joined in celebration of this special day by a broad spectrum of South Africans, from government, arts and culture, corporate and civil society sectors.

Hosted by the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Dr Ben Ngubane, the gala dinner will be attended by other distinguished guests, including Gauteng's MEC for Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture Mondli Gungubele.

The entertainment line-up is as rich, varied and inclusive as Gordimer's esteemed life. Among the many entertainers will be Paul Hanmer and Friends, Nomsa Manaka's ageless tapping feet, rising poet Masoja Msiza's reverberating voice on the mic and Macks Papo will be roaring and "talking" drumbeats.

Says Dr. Ngubane: "It fills me with great joy to be sharing in the celebrations of Ms Gordimer's 80th birthday. As a country it is proper that we pay tribute to her achievements and courage as an author, a South African, an intellectual and a cultural ambassador for our country. We cherish her insight into our country's past and current challenges."

Another groundbreaking event of the evening will be the announcement of the Nadine Gordimer Short Story Award for Writing in African Languages.

This annual award will be run in the form of a bursary, intended to benefit many African language writers who often are unable to gain entry into such empowering, results-based and intensive programmes.

As a memento, a birthday souvenir publication will be made freely available to guests. Contributors include including fellow Nobel Laureates Nigerian Wole Soyinka and Archbishop DesmondTutu as well as the esteemed father of South African literature Eskia Mphahlele; novelists and academics Njabulo Ndebele and Mbulelo Mzamane.