Redemption Song and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing: 2018

(Paperback)

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Now in 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. Kenyan writer Makena Onjerika is the 2018 winner for her short story entitled "Fanta Blackcurrant". This collection brings together the five 2018 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the Caine Prize Writers' Workshop, taking place April 2018.; 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.; Judges are drawn from different literary fields including eminent journalists, broadcasters and academics with expertise and a connection to literature in Africa. Five stories are selected for the shortlist by the judges.;The 2018 judging panel comprises: Dinaw Mengestu, journalist, author and graduate of Georgetown University and of Columbia University's M.F.A programme in fiction; Alain Mabanckou, prolific Francophone Congolese poet and novelist and Man Booker International Prize finalist (2015); reporter, columnist and poet Ahmed Rajab; Henrietta Rose-Innes, a South African author who won the Caine Prize in 2008; Lola Shoneyin, a Nigerian writer who has won the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize, among others.

Reviews

`An admirable and essential gateway to current African fiction' Booklist; `Dazzling and splendidly diverse' The Times; `Entertaining. Deserves to be widely read' - Sunday Independent, South Africa; `A wonderful set of 16 stories that covers a lot of ground and features many genres - from myth and folklore to the postmodern and experimental - in a way that will surely satisfy readers' Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Olufunke Ogundimu was born in Lagos, Nigeria. She has an MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work has been published in Dream Chasers, Nothing to See Here, Red Rock Review, New Orleans Reviewand Transition Magazine. She is working on a short-story collection reluctantly entitled The Was Thing, and a historical novel set in the 12th-century Oyo Kingdom, titled Memories of Three Rivers. 'The Armed Letter Writers' was first published in "The African Literary Hustle" issue of The New Orleans Review (2017). Wole Talabi is a full-time engineer, part-time writer and some time editor from Nigeria. His stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omenana, Terraform, The Kalahari Review, Imagine Africa 500 anthology, and a few other places. He edited the anthologies These Words Expose Us and Lights Out: Resurrection and co-wrote the play Color Me Man. His fiction has been nominated for several science fiction and fantasy awards. He likes scuba diving, elegant equations and oddly-shaped things. He currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "Wednesday's Story" was first published in Lightspeed Magazine(2016). Makena Onjerika is a graduate of the MFA Creative Writing programme at New York University, and has been published in Urban ConfustionsandWasafiri. She lives in Nairobi, Kenya, and is currently working on a fantasy novel. "Fanta Blackcurrant" was originally published in Wasafiri (2017 ). Stacy Hardy is a writer and an editor at the pan African journal Chimurenga and a founder of Black Ghost Books, South Africa. Her writing has appeared in a wide range of publications, including Pocko Times, Ctheory, Bengal Lights, Evergreen Review, Drunken Boat, Joyland, Black Sun Lit, and New Orleans Review. A collection of her short fiction, Because the Night, was published by Pocko Books in 2015. She is currently finalizing a second collection to be published in 2019 and is also working on a novella. "Involution" appeared first in Migrations: New Short Fiction from Africa, co-published by Short Story Day Africa and New Internationalist (2017 ). Nonyelum Ekwempu is a Nigerian writer and visual artist. She grew up in the bustling city of Lagos and in small villages in southwestern and southeastern Nigeria. Her art is inspired by jazz, the African immigrant experience, and the colours and vibrancy of various African cultures. She is currently a medical student at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. "American Dream" was first published in Red Rock Review (2016) and republished in The Anthem.