Caine Prize for African writing announces best award winners
A photo montage of some of writers who have won The Caine Prize Awards. PHOTO/COURTESY
What you need to know:
- The Caine Prize Awards honours outstanding African writers, who have made a profound impact on the literary landscape.
This year, the Caine Prize for African Writing marks 25 years of honouring outstanding African writers, who have made a profound impact on the literary world.
“Since its inception in 2000, the Prize has recognised (via its shortlist, winners, annual award and Shs48.4m approximately £10,000 prize purse) over 120 talented authors. We are immensely proud at the Prize to have been champions of these writers, in addition to the works of many more contemporary award-winning African authors,” a statement issued by the organisers reads in part.
In honour of this milestone, the prize will be replacing its traditional annual prize cycle with the Best of Caine Award, where three judges will decide on the best short story to have won the Caine Prize for African Writing in its 25 years (2000 – 2024).
Previous 25 winners whose stories will feature in this anniversary contest are:
Monica Arac de Nyeko (Uganda) for Jambula Tree
Leila Aboulela (Sudan) for The Museum
Helon Habila (Nigeria) for Love Poems
Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya) for Discovering Home
Yvonne Owuor (Kenya) for Weight of Whispers
Brian Chikwava (Zimbabwe) for Seventh Street Alchemy
Segun Afolabi (Nigeria) for Monday Morning
Mary Watson (South Africa) for Jungfrau
Henrietta Rose-Innes (South Africa) for Poison
EC Osondu (Nigeria) for Waiting
Olufemi Terry (Sierra Leone) for Stickfighting Days
NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) for Hitting Budapest
Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria) for Bombay’s Republic
Tope Folarin (Nigeria) for Miracle
Okwiri Oduor (Kenya) for My Father’s Head
Namwali Serpell (Zambia) for The Sack
Lidudumalingani (South Africa) for Memories We Lost
Bushra al-Fadil (Sudan) for The Story of the Girl whose Birds Flew Away
Makena Onjerika (Kenya) for Fanta Blackcurrant
Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria) for Skinned
Irenosen Okojie (Nigeria) for Grace Jones
Meron Hadero (Ethiopia) for The Street Sweep
Idza Luhumyo (Kenya) for Five Years Next Sunday
Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo (Senegal) for A Soul of Small Places
Nadia Davids (South Africa) for Bridling
As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, the prize will collaborate with partners to spotlight distinguished alumni and their continued contribution to the literary canon.
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual award for African creative writing, awarded for a short story by an African writer, published in English (indicative length 3,000 to 10,000 words).
The prize is named after the late Sir Michael Caine, former Chairman of Booker plc and Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee for nearly 25 years.
The African winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka and J M Coetzee, are Patrons of The Caine Prize.
Ellah Wakatama OBE is the Chair. Works translated into English from other languages are not excluded and if such work wins, a proportion is awarded to the translator.
