Two Nigerians in the running for the Caine Prize
Nigeria has made another strong showing shortlist for the prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing with two of the five shortlisted writers coming from the country while Zimbabwe, South Africa and Somalia providing the others. The surprise in this year’s shortlist is the return of Tope Folarin, the US-based Nigerian writer who clinched the prize […]
Nigeria has made another strong showing shortlist for the prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing with two of the five shortlisted writers coming from the country while Zimbabwe, South Africa and Somalia providing the others.
The surprise in this year’s shortlist is the return of Tope Folarin, the US-based Nigerian writer who clinched the prize in 2013 for his story ‘Miracle’. This year he appears for his short story titled ‘Genesis’.
He is joined on the shortlist by another US-based Nigerian, Lesley Nneka Arimah, who is shortlisted for her story, ‘What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky’. Arimah is a former regional winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
The duo are joined on the shortlist by Somali-born Kenyan Abdul Adan, for his hilarious story, ‘The Gift of The Lifebloom’ while Zimbabwe’s Bongani Kona with ‘At Your Requiem’ and Lidudumalingani of South Africa, with her story ‘Memories We Lost’.
Chair of judges for the 2016 Caine Prize, Delia Jarrett-Macauley, described the shortlist as, “an engrossing, well-crafted and dauntless pack of stories.”
She said “It was inspiring to note the amount of risk-taking in both subject matter and style, wild or lyrical voices matching the tempered measured prose writers, and stories tackling uneasy topics, ranging from an unsettling, unreliable narrator’s tale of airport scrutiny, to a science-fictional approach towards the measurement of grief, a young child’s coming to grips with family dysfunction, the big drama of rivaling siblings and the silent, numbing effects of loss.”
Jarret-Macauley is joined on the judging panel this year by acclaimed film, television and theatre actor, Adjoa Andoh; writer and founding member of the Nairobi-based writers’ collective, Storymoja, and founder of the Storymoja Festival, Muthoni Garland; Associate Professor and Director of African American Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC, Dr Robert J Patterson; and South African writer and 2006 Caine Prize winner, Mary Watson.
The winner of the £10,000 prize will be announced at an award ceremony and dinner at the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, on Monday 4 July. Each shortlisted writer will also receive £500.
The last winner of the prize is Zimbabwean writer, Namwali Serpell, who won it for her short story, ‘The Sack’.
The Shortlist·
Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya) for ‘The Lifebloom Gift’ published in The Gonjon Pin and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2014 (New Internationalist, United Kingdom, 2014)
Lesley NnekaArimah (Nigeria) for ‘What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky’ published in Catapult (Catapult, USA, 2015)
Tope Folarin (Nigeria) for ‘Genesis’ published in Callaloo (Johns Hopkins University Press, USA, 2014)
Bongani Kona (Zimbabwe) for ‘At Your Requiem’ published in Incredible Journey: Stories That Move You (Burnet Media, South Africa, 2015)
Lidudumalingani (South Africa) for ‘Memories We Lost’ published in Incredible Journey: Stories That Move You (Burnet Media, South Africa, 2015)