THE 2021 AKO Caine Prize shortlist has been announced, and the shortlisted authors are from Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia and Uganda. This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the judging panel deliberated the stories and chose the shortlist virtually.
The shortlisted stories for the 2021 AKO Caine Prize are: ‘Lucky’ by Doreen Baingana (Uganda) published in 2021 in Ibua Journal; ‘The Street Sweep’ by Meron Hadero (Ethiopia) published in 2018 in ZYZZYVA; ‘The Giver of Nicknames’ by Rémy Ngamije (Namibia) published in 2020 in Lolwe; ‘This Little Light of Mine’ by Troy Onyango (Kenya) published in 2020 in Doek! Literary Magazine; and finally, ‘A Separation’ by Iryn Tushabe (Ugandan) published in 2018 in EXILE Quarterly.
The winner of the £10,000 prize will be announced via a specially curated virtual award in July. Each shortlisted writer will also receive £500.
This year’s Chair of judges, Goretti Kyomuhendo, said: “We were looking for literary excellence and great stories. It is clear that the wealth of stories presented to the Prize speak about the African experience from a multitude of perspectives and forms, while often centering the themes of love, loss, identity, hope and afterlife.
“It has been hugely encouraging to see consistently excellent editing throughout the stories put to our judgment, and we have enthusiastically noticed a large number of submissions from homegrown literary journals from the continent this year.
“Intermingling politics and humour, brutality and love, loss and hope, each of these stories poignantly convey images of the continent and its diaspora that demand to be read. The true art of African storytelling is manifested in the voices of these five exceptional pieces.”
The 22 countries represented in the 2021 submissions are: Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Congo; Cote d’Ivoire; Egypt; Ethiopia; Ghana; Kenya; Mauritius; Morocco; Namibia; Nigeria; Senegal; South Africa; Sudan; Tanzania; Tunisia; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe.
Since the inception of the prize in 2000, Nigeria has won the prize seven times. The Nigerian winners of the prize include: Helon Habila (2001), Segun Afolabi (2005), EC Osondu (2009), Rotimi Babatunde (2012), Tope Folarin (2013), Lesley Nneka Arimah (2019), and Irenosen Okojie (2020). This makes Nigeria the highest winner of the African literary prize.
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