Day: May 24, 2023

The novel Time Shelter by Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov is the 2023 winner of the International Booker Prize. The winner was announced by the jury chair, prize-winning French-Moroccan novelist Leila Slimani at a ceremony in London on May 23. Gospodinov shares the prize with the novel’s translator, Angela Rodel. Time Shelter becomes the first novel originally published in Bulgarian to win the prize.

It was also the first Bulgarian book to be nominated.

The GBP 50,000 prize, which is split equally between the author and translator, is awarded annually for a novel or short story collection in any language that has been translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

In Time Shelter, a ‘clinic for the past’, offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time. But soon the past begins to invade the present.

‘It’s an honour to be here. Thank you to the Booker Foundation for supporting this book to be translated. Thank you to the jury for appreciating a novel about memory and time and the weaponisation of nostalgia. Thank you also to all the nominees – your books are wonderful. Huge thanks to my translator, Angela Rodel, who built this clinic of the past in English,’ Gospodinov said after the award ceremony.

He noted that he had won the prize on the eve of May 24 – ‘the day of the Cyrilic alphabet, the day of writing and language,’ he said.

‘Happy holiday, happy miracle of language,’ the author said, speaking this sentence in Bulgarian.

‘There are many wonderful metaphors used in Time Shelter, but one of them is about the critical deficit of meaning in the world,’ Angela Rodel said for her part. ‘The world’s reserves of sense have been depleted. The Booker Foundation with this prize is pushing back precisely against this deficit – they are tapping new veins, they are discovering unexpected motherloads of meaning to replenish worn out worlds and words. Thank you to the judges for choosing us among all the other wonderful books,’ the translator pointed out.

‘Our winner, Time Shelter, is a brilliant novel, full of irony and melancholy. It is a profound work that deals with a very contemporary question: What happens to us when our memories disappear? Georgi Gospodinov succeeds marvellously in dealing with both individual and collective destinies and it is this complex balance between the intimate and the universal that convinced and touched us,’ Slimani said about the winning novel.

She called it ‘a great novel about Europe, a continent in need of a future, where the past is reinvented, and nostalgia is a poison’. ‘It offers us a perspective on the destiny of countries like Bulgaria, which have found themselves at the heart of the ideological conflict between the West and the communist world.’

Of Angela Rodel’s work, Slimani said that she ‘has succeeded brilliantly’ in rendering the author’s style and language, ‘rich in references and deeply free’.

In an interview published by the Booker Prize organizers prior to the announcement of the winning novel, Gospodinov said he was happy to be nominated – as were many people in Bulgaria. ‘This encourages writers not only from my country, but also from the Balkans, who often feel themselves outside the sphere of English-speaking attention. It is commonly assumed that ‘big themes’ are reserved for ‘big literatures’, or literatures written in big languages, while small languages, somehow by default, are left with the local and the exotic. Awards like the International Booker Prize are changing that status quo, and this is very important. I think every language has the capacity to tell the story of the world and the story of an individual person. If my novel, Time Shelter, wins, I will know that its anxieties and forebodings have been understood.’

In her pre-award interview for the Booker Prize organizers, Angela Rodel says translators are no ‘second fiddle’ to writers and it is more like a duel. Here is what exactly she said: ‘Since I am a musician, I will use a musical metaphor: translation has long been seen as ‘second fiddle’ to writing, with translators providing a harmonic backdrop for the true virtuosos. When we do our jobs well, our ‘accompaniment’ is not even noticeable to the audience, swept away by the book’s main melody. But the International Booker Prize brings this harmony to the forefront, emphasizing that all translation is a duet whose true beauty would not be possible without both voices or both melodies coming together.’

She also said that winning the prize would also put a spotlight on Bulgarian literature, ‘which has long felt as if it is relegated to ‘second fiddle’ on the world literature stage. ‘Even making the long list has been an incredible honour: I am proud to be part of this ‘stepping out into centre-stage’,’ she said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Judicial Service Staff Association (JUSAG), has declared an indefinite strike over delayed salaries and related allowances effective Wednesday May 24, 2023.

The National Executive Council of JUSAG said it sanctioned the strike after consultation with all stakeholders.

The Association declared the industrial strike over the delay in approving the recommendation/advice of the Judicial Council on the review of their salaries and related allowances in accordance with Article 149 of the 1992 Constitution among others.

The National Labour Commission (NLC) on May 10, 2023 ordered JUSAG, the Labour and Employment and Finance Ministries and other parties to negotiate and resolve the matter within two weeks.

The parties were to report back to the Commission on Wednesday May 24, 2023.

Mr Samuel Afotey Otu, National President of JUSAG, said the ruling by the Commission contravenes Article 149 of the 1992 Constitution as it attempts to strip the President of the authority vested in him by the 1992 Constitution.

He said the ruling also contradicted the Supreme Court ruling in the case of JUSAG vs. The Attorney General and 2 Others in 2016.

‘Despite these apparent violations of the rules of natural justice by the Commission, and its flavoured ruling, we placed the interest of the Judiciary and Ghana high and exercised patience hoping that the Goverment will exercise good faith and initiate steps to resolve our grievances,’ he said.

He said unfortunately, nobody in government invited them for a meeting or attempted to resolve our concerns.

The National President said the Labour Minister, who was directed to lead the resolution went and slept on the job, yet they remained patient for 14 days.

He said it was clear to them that Commission had a predetermined mindset planned with the Government to frustrate the efforts of JUSAG in demanding what was due its members.

He said the ruling of the Commission was prepared and dated on Tuesday, 9

May 2023 prior to the meeting on Wednesday, 10 May 2023.

The National President said the Commission’s ruling was prejudiced and Commission was bias in favour of the Government.

Mr Afotey Otu said the Commission virtually violated all the principles of natural justice and the whole proceedings at the Commission and the ruling had occasioned miscarriage of justice.

‘In a bid to cover the injustice visited on JUSAG, the Commission wrote a letter dated May 12, 2023 to JUSAG withdrawing its ruling on the grounds of supposed error they had detected in their ruling,’ he added.

He said by the withdrawal, ‘therefore, there was technically and there was still technically, no ruling or directive’ preventing JUSAG from proceeding with their industrial action, since they had not replaced the withdrawn ruling with another one, or serve same on JUSAG.

He said ‘by this declaration of strike, all staff of the Service were immediately directed not to report to work from Wednesday May 24, 2023 onwards unless and until President Nana Akufo-Addo complies with Article 149 of the Constitution by approving and paying our new salaries with all the arrears from January, 2023 to date.’

He said no Court Registrar should open or be compelled to open any registry or Court for use during the period of the strike.

He said Regional Executive Board and Committee members of JUSAG were to be on the lookout to ensure compliance.

He said the Security Men and women were to stay at post, but make sure that all entrances to the Courts and other offices were locked to prevent entry into the Courts or any premises of the service.

The National President said all drivers were directed to hand over the official vehicles in their custody to the transport department.

‘No driver shall drive any office vehicle or any officer or any judge during the period of the strike,’ he said.

He said if any staff of the service received any threat from any Management member to report to work or perform any official duty during the strike, he or she shall decline same and report the matter to JUSAG.

Mr Afotey Otu said, ‘Let no one in Government or Management unlawfully coerce any staff or intimidate staff during the strike.’

The National President said if any member was inflicted with any injustice in this cause, ‘we shall deem it as all members have been affected.’

He, therefore, called on the leadership of the Association of Judges and Magistrates to join the strike since majority of their members were also affected by the injustice and suffering we are undergoing.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Former president of Liberia Ellen Johnson – Africa’s first democratically-elected female head of state – arrived in Luanda Wednesday to attend the First International Women’s Forum between 25 and 26 May in Luanda.

Ellen Johnson, 84, was welcomed at Luanda’s International Airport by the minister of State for the Social Affairs, Dalva Ringote Allen.

Johnson told the press that she was very pleased to be returning to Luanda, after a long time, to join the programme of activities for celebration of the Africa Day (May 25).

She also said she was very happy to receive the invitation to participate in the first International Women’s Forum, along with many Angolan women (…..)”, she said.

The former president of Liberia congratulated the country’s development, stressing that the forum, included in the Biennial, will allow participants to have the opportunity to meet some Angolan leaders.

Ellen Johnson led Liberia from 2006 to 2018, during which she focused in fight against unemployment, public debt and the Ebola epidemic.

Among other deeds, in 2011 she won the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for women’s safety and rights, as well as the Ibrahim Prize.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)