Talent

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Ellen Banda-Aaku

Biography

Born in Woking, Surrey, in 1965, she was the middle child of three, and grew up in Zambia. She was educated at the University of Zambia, where she obtained her BA in public administration, and she also holds an MA in financial management with social policy from Middlesex University and an MA in creative writing from the University of Cape Town. Ellen Banda-Aaku’s first book, Wandi’s Little Voice, won the Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa in 2004. Of the title, the judges stated that the author’s style reveals a rare gift for revealing the truth and contradictions at the core of human relationships. In 2007 she won the Commonwealth Short Story Competition for her story “Sozi’s Box”. Her first novel, Patchwork, won the 2010 Penguin Prize for African Writing and was shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize. In 2006 Banda-Aaku sat on the judging panel for the Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa. African Writing Online, many literatures, one voice In 2012 she was awarded the Zambia Arts Council Chairpersons Ngoma Award for her outstanding achievements in literature. She has conducted creative writing workshops in Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Her short stories have been published in anthologies in Australia, South Africa, the UK and the US, including in New Daughters of Africa (edited by Margaret Busby, 2019). In July 2020, Banda-Aaku was announced as chair of the panel judges for the Kalemba Short Story Prize 2020. She is co-author with James Patterson of a children’s book entitled The Elephant Girl, due to be released in July 2022.

News / Ranking / Titbits / Awards

Short-listed for Commonwealth Book Prize 2012. Penguin Prize For African Writing 2010. Commonwealth Short Story Competition 2007. Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa 2004

Talent

Ellen Banda-Aaku

Biography

News / Ranking / Titbits / Awards

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