Fiston Mwanza Mujila
Biography
Fiston Mwanza Mujila was born in 1981 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, where he went to a Catholic school before studying literature and human sciences at Lubumbashi University. He now lives in Graz, Austria, and is pursuing a PhD in Romance Languages. His writing has been awarded with numerous
prizes, including the Gold Medal at the 6th Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut as well as the Best Text for Theatre (“Preis für das beste Stück,” State Theatre, Mainz) in 2010.
His poems, prose works, and plays are reactions to the political turbulence that has come in the wake of the independence of the Congo and its effect on day-to-day life. As he describes in one of his poems, his texts describe a ‘geography of hunger’: hunger for peace, freedom, and bread. Tram 83, written in French and published in August 2014 as a lead title of the entrée littéraire by Éditions Métailié, is his first novel. It has been shortlisted and won numerous literary prizes in France, Austria, England, and the United States.
Awards
- Winner of the 2015 Etisalat Prize for Literature
- Longlisted for the 2016 The Man Booker International Prize
- Longlisted for the 2016 Best Translated Book Awards
- Shortlisted for the 2017 Internationaler Literaturpreise – Haus der Kulturen der Welt
- Winner of the 2014 Grand Prix SGDL du Premier Roman
- Shortlisted for the 2014 Prix Wepler-Fondation La Poste
- Winner of the 2015 PEN Translates
- Winner of the null Golden Medal in Literature of the VI Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut