20 Years of the Caine Prize

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, 2000 Helon Habila Nigeria, 2001 Binyavanga Wainaina Kenya, 2002 Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor Kenya, 2003 Brian Chikwava Zimbabwe, 2004 Segun Afolabi Nigeria, 2005 Mary Watson South Africa, 2006 Monica Arac de Nyeko Uganda, 2007 Henrietta Rose-Innes South Africa, 2008 EC Osondu Nigeria, 2009 Olufemi Terry Sierra Leone, 2010 NoViolet Bulawayo Zimbabwe, 2011 Rotimi Babatunde Nigeria, 2012 Tope Folarin Nigeria, 2013 Okwiri Oduor Kenya, 2014 Namwali Serpell Zambia, 2015 Lidudumalingani South Africa, 2016 Bushra al-Fadil Sudan, 2017 Makena Onjerika Kenya, 2018 Lesley Nneka Arimah Nigeria, 2019