Eritrean-Ethiopian writer Sulaiman Addonia announced view Twitter that he has received the 2021 Golden Afro Artistic Awards. The awarded was founded in 2016 by Nel Tsopo Nziemi, the editor-in-chief of Brukmer. The awards aim at showcasing Afro-descendent and African diaspora artist to the world and the Belgian citizens.

“Last night, & in the presence of Bénédicte Linard, FWB Minister of Culture & Media, Belgium,” Addonia announced, “I received the Golden Afro Artistic Awards for Literature for my writing, & for founding a literary festival, a creative writing academy for refugees, & (co-founding) a literary prize.”

Thomas Prédour, Jean-Yves Reumont, Yamila Idrissi, Aimé Mpané, and Kool Koor were the judges of this year’s prize.

He was born to an Eritrean mother and an Ethiopian father in Eritrea. Addonia’s is the author of The Consequences of Love (published by Chatto & Windus, 2008), Silence is my Mother Tongue (published by The Indigo Press, 2018), which was a finalist for LAMBDA Awards in the Bisexual Category, and longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. Addonia’s next book, The Seers, is forthcoming from Canongate and Graywolf Press.

See pictures from the ceremony below.