Bessie Head and the Annual Literature Awards

The occasion was held in the gloomy lecture room at the National Museum in Gaborone - a venue which certainly provided adequate space but one which, on a cool, grey day, with everyone wearing heavy clothes, was a shade dispiriting. Perhaps Bessie better belongs in a sunlight Serowe.

The first necessity for an awards ceremony is to avoid the deadly duo - pomposity, an over lengthy programme and with it, stultifying boredom. The organisers contrived to evade those routine traps and got the balances spot on.