Manu Herbstein Book Named as One of the Honor Books Recipients at the Children’s Africana Book Awards

Congratulations to PEN SA Member Manu Herbstein, whose book The Boy who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye has been named as one of the Honor Books for older readers at the 25th Annual Children’s Africana Book Awards.

The book was first published by Techmate in Ghana, 2014 and it won the 2016 Creative Book of the Year Award of the African Literature Association.

The Boy Who Spat in Sargrenti’s Eye, Manu Herbstein. Ghana, Techmate, 2016.

Kofi Gyan, the 15-year old boy who spits in Sargrenti’s eye, is the nephew of the chief of Elmina, a town on the Atlantic coast of Ghana. On Christmas Day, 1871, Kofi’s godfather gives him a diary as a Christmas present and charges him with the task of keeping a personal record of the momentous events through which they are living. This novel is a transcription of Kofi’s diary. (Ages 12 and up)

You can see the rest of the recipients here.

(Image courtesy of Good Reads)