Anni Domingo’s novel Breaking the Maafa Chain has won awards and accolades, and is now on the road to publication.
Anni Domingo was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize in 2014. Since then, her novel Breaking the Maafa Chain has won various awards and accolades. It is now on the road to publication, and promises to be a great success.
In the last two months, Anni’s novel has been recognised across the creative writing industry – recognition that began in 2014, with the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. In November 2018, Anni won the Myriad Editions First Draft Competition with Breaking the Maafa Chain. As a result, an extract of her novel will feature in New Daughters of Africa, an anthology out in March 2019, including authors such as Andrea Levy, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Aminattta Forna, and Bernardine Everisto. In December, Anni won a four-week writing retreat at the prestigious Hedgebrook Writing Centre in Seattle, Washington. Already, 2019 proves to be a great year for her writing career: she is a winner of the coveted Escalator writing programme, out of hundreds of entries, at the National Writing Centre in Norwich.
Trained as an actor and drama teacher, Anni returned to writing later in life, receiving a Masters (Distinction) in Creative Writing in 2012. Her poems and short stories have been published in various anthologies. As a writer, she explores hidden African histories through a feminist prism. Her experience of extensive travelling, and living on four continents, influence her writing; as a black woman with adopted mixed-race children living in England, she writes to explore identity. She asks, for example, if a change in environment changes our idea of self. All this is reflected in Breaking the Maafa Chain. This is Anni’s first novel, hence its debut on the Lucy Cavendish shortlist. With two publishers interested, its publication is imminent, and not to be missed.
Anni said:
“I want to thank Lucy Cavendish for the initial faith shown in my novel, which gave me the confidence to continue.”
Professor Dame Madeleine Atkins, President of Lucy Cavendish College said:
“The Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize has an excellent track record of starting female writers on their journey to publication. We are delighted about the success of Anni’s novel so far, which is a testament to her talent and hard work, and we look forward to future developments.”
The Fiction Prize is a unique opportunity for unpublished female writers to launch their literary careers, with other past successes including Gail Honeyman (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine), Laura Marshall (Friend Request, Three Little Lies), Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott (Swan Song) and Catherine Chanter (The Well, The Half Sister). The deadline for entry to the 2019 competition is Friday 8 February 2019. Find out more here.