The Caine Prize for African Writing has announced a record number of entries for the second year in a row, from a wider range of countries.
The 17th edition of the prize received 166 eligible short stories from writers representing 23 African countries.
Last year, 153 qualifying stories were submitted from 17 countries.
The judges, who were announced in London last month, will meet in early May to decide on the shortlisted stories, which will be announced shortly thereafter.
This year the panel of judges is chaired by author and broadcaster Delia Jarrett-Macauley, who is joined by film, television and voice 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 Robert J Patterson; and South African writer and 2006 Caine Prize winner Mary Watson.
Caine Prize director Lizzy Attree says: “Once again we have received a record number of entries and we are delighted that so many of the best writers and publishers in Africa chose to submit their work. We are also excited to see an increase in the number of countries represented among the work submitted.
“Alongside nations with long histories of representation in both our shortlist and the roll call of winners, countries like Ethiopia, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gambia entered work, which our judges now have the enviable task of reading and judging.”
Once again, Blackwell Hall, Bodleian Libraries, in Oxford, UK, will host the Caine Prize award ceremony on Monday, 4 July, 2016.
The Caine Prize is awarded for a short story by an African writer published in English. Previous winners include Sudan’s Leila Aboulela, Kenyan Binyavanga Wainaina, South African Henrietta Rose-Innes and Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo.
Zambian writer Namwali Serpell won the 2015 Caine Prize for her short story “The Sack”, which is included along with all the shortlisted stories in the 2015 Caine Prize anthology, Lusaka Punk. Serpell magnanimously shared her prize money with the other 2015 shortlistees, saying “I don’t think writing is a competitive sport”.
The Caine Prize also launched a redesigned website today. View it at www.caineprize.com.
Related stories:
Book details
- Lusaka Punk and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2015 edited by Caine Prize
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EAN: 9781780262284
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- The Gonjon Pin and Other Stories edited by Caine Prize
EAN: 9781431420261
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- 10 Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing edited by The Caine Prize for African Writing
EAN: 9781906523800
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- A Memory This Size and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013 edited by Caine Prize
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EAN: 9781780261195
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- The Caine Prize Anthology 2009: Work in Progress and Other Stories by Caine Prize
EAN: 9781906523145
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