Twenty Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Caine Prize for African Writing - often referred to as the 'African Booker Prize' - this collection showcases all twenty prize-winning short stories, each with its own unique take on modern African life.
Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Caine Prize for African Writing, this collection showcases all twenty prize-winning short stories – each with its own unique take on modern African life.A jailer’s love poems ghost-written by a prisoner… Love blossoming between two girls despite the horror of their community… Street kids stick-fighting or stealing guavas from the rich… A dystopian world where women must go naked until they marry… Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Caine Prize for African Writing – often referred to as the ‘African Booker Prize’ – this collection showcases all twenty prize-winning short stories, each with its own unique take on modern African life. As Ben Okri says, in his special introduction for this anthology: ‘Whether in the cities or in the villages, whether it is in East or West or South or North Africa, something pulses through the varied and oddly unified life of the continent that lends itself to the framing that the short story excels at. Whether it is the celebration, the marketplace, the bus stop, the ritual, the family, the funeral, comradeship, grisly death, sexual awakening, the short story catches the experience, holds it at an angle, illuminates it.’ Leila Aboulela Sudan, 2000Helon Habila Nigeria, 2001Binyavanga Wainaina Kenya, 2002Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor Kenya, 2003Brian Chikwava Zimbabwe, 2004Segun Afolabi Nigeria, 2005Mary Watson South Africa, 2006Monica Arac de Nyeko Uganda, 2007Henrietta Rose-Innes South Africa, 2008EC Osondu Nigeria, 2009Olufemi Terry Sierra Leone, 2010NoViolet Bulawayo Zimbabwe, 2011Rotimi Babatunde Nigeria, 2012Tope Folarin Nigeria, 2013Okwiri Oduor Kenya, 2014Namwali Serpell Zambia, 2015Lidudumalingani South Africa, 2016Bushra al-Fadil Sudan, 2017Makena Onjerika Kenya, 2018Lesley Nneka Arimah Nigeria, 2019
Now in its 20th 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.