The Caine Prize For African Writing 2016

THE LEADING AFRICAN LITERARY AWARD, KNOWN AS THE AFRICAN BOOKER, NAMED AFTER THE BOOKER PRIZE FOUNDER, MICHAEL CAINE. Now entering its seventeenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa’s leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. This collection brings together eighteen short stories—the five 2016 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the 2016 Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop that took place in Zambia. The collection showcases young writers who went on to publish successful novels, for instance: Leila Aboulela, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta, Brian Chikwava and Helon Habila. The shortlisted writers include Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya), Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria), Tope Folarin (Nigeria), Bongani Kona (Zimbabwe), and Lidudumalingani (South Africa). Twelve other promising writers are also included in the anthology: 2015 Caine Prize winner, Namwali Serpell (Zambia), NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), Chilufya Chilangwa (Zambia), Tope Folarin (Nigeria), Elnathan John (Nigeria), Billy Kahora (Kenya), Bwanga Kapumpa (Zambia), FT Kola (South Africa), Kafula Mwila (Zambia), Masande Ntshanga (South Africa), Timwa Lipenga (Malawi), and Okwiri Oduor (Kenya).

A collection that brings together the five 2016 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop, which took place April 2016. Now in its 17th year, The Caine Prize for African Writing has become an established prize in the literary calendar attracting high-calibre writers from all over the continent.

Now entering its twentieth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa’s leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Caine Prize for African Writing—often referred to as the African Booker Prize—this collection showcases the winning short stories of African writers from the past 20 years and reflects the vast range of modern African experience. The writers include: Leila Aboulela (2000), Helon Habila (2001), Binyavanga Wainaina (2002), Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (2003), Brian Chikwava (2004), Segun Afolabi (2005), Mary Watson (2006), Monica Arac de Nyeko (2007), Henrietta Rose-Innes (2008), EC Osondu (2009), Olufemi Terry (2010) NoViolet Bulawayo (2011), Rotimi Babatunde (2012), Tope Folarin (2013), Okwiri Oduor (2014), Namwali Serpell (2015), Lidudumalingani (2016) Bashra al-Fadil (2017), Makena Onjerika (2018). As Ben Okri said: “That’s what the Caine Prize is about: celebrating the genius of human diversity. The idea is to enrich the world through its greater contact with Africa, and to enrich Africa through its greater contact with the world.”

**One of Time’s 32 Books You Need to Read This Summer** An NPR Best Book of 2019 An “electrifying” (Publishers Weekly) debut novel from Rhodes Scholar and winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing about a Nigerian family living in Utah and their uneasy assimilation to American life. Living in small-town Utah has always been an uncomfortable fit for Tunde Akinola’s family, especially for his Nigeria-born parents. Though Tunde speaks English with a Midwestern accent, he can’t escape the children who rub his skin and ask why the black won’t come off. As he struggles to fit in, he finds little solace from his parents who are grappling with their own issues. Tunde’s father, ever the optimist, works tirelessly chasing his American dream while his wife, lonely in Utah without family and friends, sinks deeper into schizophrenia. Then one otherwise-ordinary morning, Tunde’s mother wakes him with a hug, bundles him and his baby brother into the car, and takes them away from the only home they’ve ever known. But running away doesn’t bring her, or her children, any relief; once Tunde’s father tracks them down, she flees to Nigeria, and Tunde never feels at home again. He spends the rest of his childhood and young adulthood searching for connection—to the wary stepmother and stepbrothers he gains when his father remarries; to the Utah residents who mock his father’s accent; to evangelical religion; to his Texas middle school’s crowd of African-Americans; to the fraternity brothers of his historically black college. In so doing, he discovers something that sends him on a journey away from everything he has known. Sweeping, stirring, and perspective-shifting, A Particular Kind of Black Man is “wild, vulnerable, lived…A study of the particulate self, the self as a constellation of moving parts” (The New York Times Book Review).

Now entering its seventeenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa's leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. This collection brings together the five 2016 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the Caine Prize Writers' Workshop, taking place April 2016.

Now entering its nineteenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa's leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. The prize was launched in 2000 to encourage and highlight the richness and diversity of African writing by bringing it to a wider audience internationally. The focus on the short story reflects the contemporary development of the African story-telling tradition. This collection will bring together the five 2018 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the Caine Prize Writers' Workshop, which will take place in April 2018.

The Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa's leading literary prize. It has helped launch the careers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Segun Afolabi, Leila Aboulela, Brian Chikwava, Binyavanga Wainaina, and many others. The 2013 collection includes the five shortlisted stories and the stories written at the Caine Prize Writers' Workshop.