The shortlist for 2020 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced. The shortlisted writers for this years are writers from Namibia, Rwanda, Nigeria and Tanzania.
The AKO Caine Prize, awarded annually for African creative storytellers, is a prize awarded for a short story by an African writer published in English between 3,000 to 10,000 words. Each shortlisted writer gets €500 while the winner gets €10,000.
According to the press release by The Caine Prize, The Chair of judges, Director of The Africa Centre, Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE, said: “We were energised by the enormous breadth and diversity of the stories we were presented with – all of which collectively did much to challenge the notion of the African and diaspora experience, and its portrayal in fiction, as being one homogeneous whole.
“These brilliant and surprising stories are beautifully crafted, yet they are all completely different from one another. From satire and biting humour, to fiction based on non-fiction, with themes spanning political shenanigans, outcast communities, superstition and social status, loss, and enduring love. Each of these shortlisted stories speak eloquently to the human condition, and to what it is to be an African, or person of African descent, at the start of the second decade of the 21st century.
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“Together, this year’s shortlisted stories signal that African literature is in robust health, and, as demonstrated by the titles alone, never predictable.”
The shortlisted writers for this year are:
- Erica Sugo Anyadike(Tanzania) for How To Marry An African President
- Chikodili Emelumadu(Nigeria and UK) for What To Do When Your Child Brings Home A Mami Wata
- Jowhor Ile(Nigeria) for Fisherman’s Stew
- Rémy Ngamije (Rwanda & Namibia) for ‘The Neighbourhood Watch’
- Irenosen Okojie (Nigeria & UK) for ‘Grace Jones’ from “Nudibranch”
Previous winners are Sudanese Leila Aboulela (2000), Nigerian Helon Habila (2001), Kenyan Binyavanga Wainaina (2002), Kenyan Yvonne Owuor (2003), Zimbabwean Brian Chikwava (2004), Nigerian Segun Afolabi (2005), South African Mary Watson (2006), Ugandan Monica Arac de Nyeko (2007), South African Henrietta Rose-Innes (2008), Nigerian EC Osondu (2009), Sierra Leonean Olufemi Terry (2010), Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo (2011), Nigerian Rotimi Babatunde (2012), Nigerian Tope Folarin (2013), Kenyan Okwiri Oduor (2014), Zambian Namwali Serpell (2015), South African Lidudumalingani (2016), Sudanese writer, Bushra al-Fadil (2017), Kenyan Makena Onjerika (2018) and Nigerian Lesley Nneka Arimah (2019)
