This blog is mostly about international economic "law and policy," as its title indicates. But it's also about the international economic law "community," which includes the people in it. With that in mind, I'm going to talk a bit about one of these people, my good friend and former colleague Petina Gappah of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law.
Most of us trade law types have at least a few interests outside of the field. Personally, I like playing tennis and following the Philadelphia Phillies. Well, Petina has been more productive than that with her interests. She's a writer who is now an award winning author:
A Geneva-based international trade lawyer whose poignant, humane and funny collection of stories about her home country, Zimbabwe, has impressed critics was tonight named winner of the Guardian First Book Award.
Petina Gappah became only the second short story writer to win the award in its 10-year history, the first being Yiyun Li in 2006. Gappah's collection of 13 stories, An Elegy for Easterly, tells of the lives of people, rich and poor, caught up in events over which they have little control.
The Guardian's literary editor, Claire Armitstead, who chaired the judging panel, said she was thrilled to name Gappah as winner, particularly since 2009 is the year of the short story. There had been some wonderful first books, she said, and "Petina Gappah's humane and disarmingly funny mosaic of life in Zimbabwe is undoubtedly one of the very best."
Congratulations, Petina! I wish Petina all the success in the world with her writing career, although perhaps not too much success, because then she might disappear from trade law circles and we'd never get a chance to see her.
With the holidays coming up, I'll just note that Petina's book would make a great gift. You can buy it from the Guardian's web site or from Amazon.
