Alert! “A Door Ajar” by Sibongile Fisher has won the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction.
TJ Benson is first runner-up for his story “Tea”, and Megan Ross is second runner-up for “Farang”.
The R10 000 Short Story Day Africa Prize – the continent’s most prestigious prize for an original piece of short fiction – is awarded annually to an African writer or African person living in the diaspora.
Previous winners of the prize are Okwiri Oduor from Kenya for “My Father’s Head” (2013), which went on to win the 2014 Caine Prize for African Writing, Diane Awerbuck for “Leatherman” (2014) and Cat Hellisen for “The Worme Bridge” (2015).
Read more from Short Story Day Africa:
She grabbed the wailing infant and threw it against the wall.
“A Door Ajar” by Sibongile Fisher has won the 2016 Short Story Day Africa Prize for Short Fiction. Fisher’s story, which centers around two sisters trying to escape a gruesome family custom, explores the conflict between tradition and modernity. The raw energy of the writing impressed the judging panel, who were unanimous in their decision. It is the fourth speculative short story written by a woman to scoop the R10 000 prize, which was first won in 2013 by Kenyan Okwiri Oduor, who went on to win the following year’s Caine Prize for African Writing.
She is Tiv and knows no English.
“Tea”, TJ Benson’s love story in the time of exploitation, is first runner-up. Benson uses the relationship between a Nigerian girl and a German boy, who are thrown together in the worst of circumstances, to investigate what makes us different, and whether it is more important than what makes us the same.
Nèung
A cross the road from my childhood home is a stretch of ordinary
veld.
“Farang” by Megan Ross is second runner-up. Ross uses her considered prose to tell a story about the end of naivety, exoticism and otherness. Set in Thailand, “Farang” is part travelogue, part coming-of-age tale, and beautifully encapsulates the awkward space one occupies in being an outsider in another country.
The judging panel, chaired by Sindiwe Magona, called the longlist of 21 stories “outstanding”, adding that all the stories deserve to be published.
The Prize, started in 2012, is worth R10 000, with second and third place cash prizes of R2 000 and R1 000 respectively. The 21 longlisted stories are collected in Migrations: New Short Fiction from Africa, edited by Efemia Chela, Bongani Kona and Helen Moffett, due for release in January 2017.
Many thanks to the judges, Sindiwe Magona, HJ Golakai and Tendai Huchu for their time and consideration; prize sponsors Generation Africa, the Miles Morland Foundation and Books LIVE; volunteer readers across the globe who helped us sort through the entries; our publishing partners and advisors, New Internationalist and Modjaji Books; Worldreader for sponsoring the editing mentorship; and all our project sponsors, a full list of whom are available on our sponsor page.
Last, but not least, many thanks to the Short Story Day Africa board and team.
Ends
Related news:
- Exclusive: Read Cat Hellisen’s ‘The Worme Bridge’, winner of the 2015 Short Story Day Africa Competition
- Winners of the 2015 Short Story Day Africa Competition Announced
- New Short Story Day Africa anthology Water launched – Plus 2016 theme and editing mentorship announced
- 2015 Short Story Day Africa Shortlist Announced
- Los Angeles Review of Books Heaps Praise on Short Story Day Africa’s Latest Anthology, Terra Incognita
Book details
- Water: New Short Fiction from Africa edited by Karina Szczurek, Nick Mulgrew
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EAN: 9781780263083
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- Terra Incognita edited by Nerine Dorman
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EAN: 9781920590918
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- Feast, Famine and Potluck edited by Karen Jennings
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EAN: 9780620588874
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