Two Nigerian writers, Segun Afolabi and Elnathan John, have been shortlisted in the 2015 Caine Prize for African Writing, the 16th edition. Both of them are not new to the prize, as Afolabi won the prize in 2005 for his story, ‘Monday Morning’, while John made the shortlist in 2013 for his story ‘Bayan Layi’.
Afolabi got on the shortlist this year for ‘The Folded Leaf’ published in Wasafiri (Wasafiri, London, 2014), while John, who said he has never won anything, was shortlisted for ‘Flying’ in Per Contra (Per Contra, International, 2014).
Others on this year’s shortlist are: South Africans, F. T. Kola (South Africa) for ‘A Party for the Colonel’ in One Story (One Story, Inc. Brooklyn, New York City, 2014) and Masande Ntshanga for ‘Space’ in Twenty in 20 (Times Media, South Africa, 2014).
Namwali Serpell from Zambia completes this list with ‘The Sack’ in Africa39 (Bloomsbury, London, 2014). He was shortlisted in 2010 for ‘Muzungu’.
Chair of judges, Zoë Wicomb, said the shortlist is an exciting crop of well-crafted stories.
“For all the variety of themes and approaches, the shortlist has in common a rootedness in socio-economic worlds that are pervaded with affect, as well as keen awareness of the ways in which the ethical is bound up with aesthetics. Unforgettable characters, drawn with insight and humour, inhabit works ranging from classical story structures to a haunting, enigmatic narrative that challenges the conventions of the genre,” she said.
Each shortlisted writer receives £500 and the winner of the £10,000 prize will be announced at an award ceremony and dinner at the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, on Monday, July 6.