Film Actress Honored

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi recently received the Order of Arts and Letters issued by the French Government at the French Embassy in Beijing. The order was established in 1957 in recognition of significant contributions in the areas of arts and literature. Zhang gained fame in the West for performances in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Rush Hour 2 (2001), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). She has been nominated for three British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Leading Literary Award

Nigeria's Tope Folarin has won the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing, often called as Africa's leading literary award, for his short story Miracle, a tale of faith and deceit in an evangelical Nigerian church in Texas, in the United States. The writer received a $15,000 prize for his short story. Folarin was educated at U.S.-based Morehouse College and the UK-based University of Oxford, where he earned two Master's degrees.