Ellen Banda-Aaku
Ellen Banda-Aaku (born 6 May 1965) is a Zambian author, radio drama and film producer who was born in the UK and grew up in Africa. She is the author of two novels and several books for children, and has had short stories published in anthologies and other outlets. Background Born in Woking, Surrey, in 1965, she was the middle child of three, and grew up in Zambia. She was educated at the University of Zambia, where she obtained her BA in public administration, and she also holds an MA in financial management with social policy from Middlesex University and an MA in creative writing from the University of Cape Town. Writing career Ellen Banda-Aaku's first book, Wandi's Little Voice, won the Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa in 2004. Of the title, the judges stated that the author's style reveals a rare gift for revealing the truth and contradictions at the core of human relationships. In 2007 she won the Commonwealth Short Story Competition for her story "Sozi's Box". Her first novel, Patchwork, won the 2010 Penguin Prize for African Writing and was shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize. In 2006 Banda-Aaku sat on the judging panel for the