THE CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING Always something new from Africa Annual report 2016 Cover artwork adapted by B-Creative from Lusaka Punk book cover by Victor Ehikhamenor 2016 shortlisted writers in Oxford, UK, on 4th July (from le): Tope Folarin, Lidudumalingani, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Bongani Kona and Abdul Adan. The Caine Prize is supported by S R E A Other partners include: the British Council, the Wyfold Charitable Trust, Adam and Victoria Freudenheim, John and Judy Niepold, Arindam Bhattacharjee and other generous donors. 1 Report on the 2016 Caine Prize and related activities 2016 changes to the Board e year saw important changes to the Board of Trustees of Africa 95. Dr Delia Jarrett-Macauley, who is a writer, academic and broadcaster of Sierra Leonian parentage, succeeded Jonathan Taylor as Chair of the Board and of the Caine Prize Council. Baroness Nicholson also retired from the Board of Trustees but remains President of the Council. Claire Whitaker resigned from the Board and Ed Robinson announced his intention to do so by the end of the calendar year. Further new Trustees elected were Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, cultural historian, Adam Freudenheim, publisher of Pushkin Press, Fiammetta Rocco, literary editor of e Economist, and Véronique Tadjo, author, academic and poet from Côte d’Ivoire. e Board welcomed the new members and warmly thanked those retiring. On retiring Jonathan said “I have been very glad and proud to have led the Caine Prize since its foundation. We have come a long way and the Prize has provided a launching pad for very many successful literary careers. I am delighted that Delia will be succeeding me. She is an accomplished writer, broadcaster, academic and consultant. Most recently she has chaired the panel of judges for the 2016 Caine Prize. Under her leadership the Prize will continue to develop and she will take it in exciting new directions.” Jonathan was Chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation from 2001 to 2015. He was also Chair of the Trustees of the International Prize of Arabic Fiction. Delia added “I am honoured and delighted to have been appointed as the Chair. I hope to push the boundaries of the Caine Prize: a venture that attracts the greatest literary talent from the African continent. I am looking forward to working with Lizzy Attree, our Director, and with the Board of Trustees and Council members.” 2016 Prize and Award Dinner Jonathan Taylor, receiving a painting by Rosemary Clunie “Africa’s most important literary award.” International Herald Tribune entitled: Everything Changes, anks to the support of Bodleian’s librarian Richard Ovenden, the 17th Caine with Emma Nicholson and Prize Award Dinner was once again held in Weston Hall, Oxford. e modern Ben Okri. venue is an outstanding location and we hope to return in 2018. In the meantime the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) have o ered us the use of Beveridge Hall in Senate House for the 2017 Award dinner, as part of their centenary celebrations, so for one year only the Prize will be awarded in London. is year’s Prize was won by Lidudumalingani from South Africa, for ‘Memories We Lost’ published in Incredible Journey: Stories that Move You (Burnet Media, South Africa, 2015). e story tells the emotionally charged life of a girl who acts as protector of her sister, whose serious mental-health problems cause consternation in a South African village. Her situation deteriorates as her care is entrusted to Nkunzi, a local man who employs traditional techniques to rid people of their demons. Chair of judges, Delia Jarrett-Macauley praised the story, saying, “ e winning story explores a di cult subject – how traditional beliefs in a rural community are used to tackle schizophrenia. is is a troubling piece, depicting the great love between two young siblings in a beautifully drawn Eastern Cape. Multi-layered, and gracefully narrated, this short story leaves the reader full of sympathy and wonder at the plight of its protagonists.” e 2016 shortlist was selected from a record 166 eligible entries from 23 African countries and comprised Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya) for ‘ e Chair of judges, Dr Delia Lifebloom Gi ’ from e Gonjon Pin and Other Stories, the Caine Prize Jarrett-Macauley, at the anthology (New Internationalist, Oxford, 2014); Lesley Nneka Arimah 2016 award dinner. (Nigeria) for ‘What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky’ from Catapult 2 Report on the 2016 Caine Prize and related activities (Catapult, USA, 2014); Tope Folarin (Nigeria) for ‘Genesis’ from Callaloo (John Hopkins University Press, USA, 2014); Bongani Kona (Zimbabwe) for ‘At Your Requiem’ from Incredible Journey: Stories that Move You (Burnet Media, South Africa, 2015); Lidudumalingani (South Africa) for ‘Memories We Lost’ from Incredible Journey (Burnet Media, South Africa, 2014). All these stories are available to read on our website. is is the second year that a former winner was nominated and the shortlist includes a former regional winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. e shortlisted writers were awarded £500 in recognition of their achievement and for the third time, audio versions of all ve shortlisted stories were commissioned and made available via podcasts on our website. Four judges joined Delia Jarrett-Macauley on the panel including acclaimed e 2016 Caine Prize winner, lm, television and theatre actor Adjoa Andoh, Kenyan writer, Founder of the Lidudumalingani, with the bust Storymoja Collective and Director of the Storymoja Festival Muthoni Garland, of Sir Michael Caine. Associate Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Georgetown Robert Patterson, and Mary Watson, the winner of the Caine Prize in 2006. is was the fourth time that a past Caine Prize winner took part in the judging. We thank them all warmly. At the dinner, Delia Jarrett-Macauley described the shortlist as, “an engrossing, well-craed and dauntless pack of stories. e high standard of the entries was clear throughout and particularly noteworthy was the increasing number of fantasy ctions [with] the sci- trend resonating in several excellent stories. My fellow judges commented on the pleasure of reading the stories, the gi of being exposed to the exciting short ctions being produced by African writers today and the general shi away from politics towards more intimate subjects – though recent topics such as the Ebola crisis were being wrestled with.” She added, “It was inspiring to note the amount of risk-taking in both subject matter and style, wild or lyrical voices matching the tempered measured prose writers, and stories tackling uneasy topics, ranging from an unsettling, unreliable narrator’s tale of airport scrutiny, to a science-ctional approach towards the measurement of grief, a young child’s coming to grips with family dysfunction, the big drama of rivalling siblings and the silent, numbing eects e 2016 judges at the Bodleian of loss. e panel is proud to have shortlisted writers from across the continent, Library in Oxford. From le nding stories that are compelling, well-craed and thought-provoking.” to right: Adjoa Andoh, Mary Lidudumalingani will be given the opportunity to visit Georgetown University, Watson, Dr Robert Patterson, as a Writer-in-Residence at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice Dr Delia Jarrett-Macauley and in April 2017. e award will cover all travel and living expenses. He has also Muthoni Garland. been invited to speak at the Library of Congress in Washington, which is now part of the winner’s Prize each year. Lidudumalingani took part in the Open Book Festival in Cape Town, the Mail & Guardian festival and other events in Johannesburg and Ake Arts and Book Festival in Abeokuta, Nigeria in November. Entries and shortlist analysis “A edgling generation of African writers, shortlisted for prizes, need readers all over the world to embrace their work” Erica Wagner, T2, e Times Vice President of the Caine To date 18 countries in Africa have been represented on the Caine Prize Prize, poet and novelist, shortlist. In addition to Anglophone writers, we have shortlisted authors in Ben Okri, speaking at the translation from 5 countries: Benin, Djibouti, Tunisia, Congo-Brazzaville and award dinner. 3 Report on the 2016 Caine Prize and related activities Mozambique. Since the Prize was founded in 1999 we have received eligible submissions from over a thousand writers from 37 African countries. e countries we have received eligible entries from are: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Comores, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. The 2016 Workshop “A springboard for emerging writers to enter the world of mainstream publishing.” Sunday Independent, South Africa is year’s workshop, our 14th, was held in Zambia. We assembled 12 talented writers to compose short stories at Chaminuka Lodge near Lusaka. We are immensely grateful to the Carnegie Corporation of New York for providing the funding for the workshop and to Namwali Serpell for her useful advice Participants discuss their work and assistance. It was unprecedented that four of the writers who took part in progress. were past Caine Prize winners, Namwali Serpell (2015), Okwiri Oduor (2014), Tope Folarin (2013), NoViolet Bulawayo (2013); three participants were local Zambian writers, Chilufya Chilangwa, Bwanga ‘Benny Blow’ Kapumpa and Kafula Mwila; and the other writers hailed from: Kenya, Billy Kahora; Nigeria, Elnathan John; South Africa, Masande Ntshanga, and Malawi, Timwa Lipenga. Vimbai Shire attended the workshop while Lizzy Attree was on maternity leave, and during 12 days of peace and quiet the workshop participants were guided by the accomplished novelist, Jamal Mahjoub (Sudan) and award-winning editor, book critic and former Man Booker Prize judge, Ellah Wakatama Billy Kahora, Tope Folarin Allfrey (Zimbabwe).