INTRODUCING THE SHARE BOTSWANA TOURISM FICTION AWARD JUDGES
The deadline for this call for submission is around the corner; September 30, 2016.
Background brief: Botswana Society for Human Development (NGO) in partnership with the Department of Tourism have since launched an inaugural Share Botswana Tourism Fiction Award, call for short story and poetry submissions.
Among other objectives, BSHD NGO has a special interest in tourism – specifically advocating for Domestic Tourism, for the sake of tourism growth and development in Botswana. Citizenry are encouraged to know and in turn appreciate their own country. In part, BSHD NGO aims to inspire and increase tourist movement and arrivals to all tourist destinations such as Tsodilo, Okavango Delta and Domboshaba, among other cultural and world heritage sites. In this respect, and as part of implementing its mandate to encourage and inspire domestic tourism and consequently encourage multiple tourist receipts and arrivals, the NGO has partnered with the Department of Tourism in order to make this initiative a success.
In implementing this indirect tourism marketing strategy, BSHD NGO will consequently ensure that Botswana’s various sites and attractions are put on full display for a wide national audience. BSHD appreciates the support given by Chobe Game Lodge, Ina Lebe, Simply Travel, Maroon Tours and Safaris, TaveLodge, Mokolodi Game Reserve and Camels Inn Lodge, but calls for other tourism players to come on board and make this initiative a success, as this initiative seeks not only to reward its winners but also means to publish an anthology of the shortlisted and winning submissions. This anthology will be accessible to both locals and internationals, as a way of attracting both domestic and international tourists.
In this respect, the competition judges for this inaugural initiative are:
Cheryl Ntumy
Cheryl S. Ntumy is a writer based in Botswana. Her first published book was a paranormal novella called Crossing. Since then she has published six romance novels, two short stories, the Conyza Bennett e-book trilogy and another story for teens titled Rainmaker.
Thalefang Charles
Thalefang Charles is a photographer, writer, traveller and New Media Manager at the Mmegi newspaper group in Botswana. His works have appeared in the leading publications in Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho. He is well travelled; in Botswana and extensively in Africa. Charles has successfully led two intrepid Cross Okavango Delta Expeditions travelling by mekoro through the Okavango Delta from Mohembo to Maun aimed at inspiring local artists to create artworks about the Okavango Delta.
Gothataone Moeng
GothataoneMoeng is a 2016 A Public Space Emerging Writer Fellow and was a finalist for the 2015 Driftless Prize (Fiction). She was born in Serowe, Botswana and currently lives in Oxford, Mississippi where she is a 3rd- year candidate for an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi. She has had her short fiction anthologized in collections Summoning The Rains, The Bed Book of Stories and Lemon Tea and Other Stories from Botswana.
Thato Ntshabele
Thato is a poet, currently working as a copywriter at an ad agency. He is also co-founder and current leader of the Poets Passport Organization in Botswana, a literary arts movement aimed at promoting literacy among the youth. Thato started writing poetry when he was 10 years old, but started performing publicly and competing in slams when he was 18. He was active during his university years having won the Kuala Lumpor Slam Championship several times and lastly becoming the AsiaPac Champion in 2012 before returning to Botswana. In Botswana he has performed at 100,000 Poets for Change Event, and at the Poetavango Maun International Arts Festival. One of Thato’s poems, Asphyxia was published in the inaugural edition of Readings at Readings, an anthology of Malaysian writers. Thato is passionate about developing young writers and helping writers find their voice in their mother tongue.
Thato Angela Chuma
Thato Angela Chuma is a Motswana writer, singer-songwriter and poet. Her work has appeared in publications based in Nigeria, UK, America, South Africa, India and Botswana –on literary online sites such as Saraba Magazine, Strange Horizons, Ground Poetry, Brittle Paper, The Stare’s Nest The Machinery and Kalahari Review. She was one of the 2015 CACE Writivists part of the WritivismProgramme and has also participated in poetry workshops such as ‘How Writers Write Poetry’, curated by the University of Iowa. She has also recorded poems for Badilisha Poetry Xchange which is a program that is archiving poetry from poets in various parts of Africa.
