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A self-published author has featured among the regional winners of the Commonwealth Book Prize.
Ezekel Alan from Jamaica won in the Caribbean category with his self-published book, Disposable People, published via CreateSpace.
He will now go forwards with the other regional winners to compete to be the overall winner of the prize, which is given to the best first novel from a Commonwealth writer. The winner will be announced at Hay Festival on 31st May.
The other winners were Lisa O'Donnell from the UK who won the Europe and Canada region with The Death of Bees (William Heinemann); E E Sule from Nigeria, who won in the Africa region with Sterile Sky (Pearson Education); Nayomi Munaweera from Sri Lanka who won in the Asia region with Island of a Thousand Mirrors (Perera-Hussein Publishing House); and Michael Sala from Australia who won in the Pacific region with The Last Thread (Affirm Press).
Chair of the Commonwealth Book Prize, Godfrey Smith said: "Choosing the regional winners from among the 21 shortlisted books was a rewarding journey across diverse cultures, through soaring—sometimes shocking—imaginations, movingly connecting us with a fascinating range of human situations."
Five winners were also selected for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize: Julian Jackson from South Africa, Michael Mendis from Sri Lanka, Eliza Robertson from Canada, Sharon Millar from Trinidad and Tobago and Zoë Meager from New Zealand.