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Caine Prize

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The Caine Prize for African Writing
Awarded forBest short story by an African writer in the English language
First awarded2000; 24 years ago (2000)
Websitehttp://www.caineprize.com

The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2000, the £10,000 prize was named in memory of businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Harris Caine,[1] former chairman of Booker Group and of the Booker Prize management committee.[2] The Caine Prize is sometimes called the "African Booker".[3] The Chair of the Board is Ellah Wakatama, appointed in 2019.[4]

Between 2020 and 2022 it was styled as the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing due to a three-year grant from Nicolai Tangen's AKO Foundation.[5]

History and background

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The Caine Prize is a registered charity with the aim of bringing African writing to a wider audience through an annual literary award. It is named after businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Caine (1927–1999), former Chairman of Booker plc, who also chaired the "Africa95" arts festival and the Booker Prize management committee for almost 25 years. After his death, friends and colleagues established the prize to be awarded annually in his memory.[2]

The prize was first awarded in 2000, to the Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela for her short story "The Museum", at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in Harare. In its first year the Caine Prize attracted entries from 20 African countries.

The winner is announced at a dinner in July, formerly held in Oxford but most recently at SOAS, University of London,[6] to which the shortlisted candidates are all invited. This is part of a week of activities for the candidates, including readings, book signings and press opportunities.

Additionally, the Caine Prize arranges writers' workshops that are held in a different African country each year.[2]

Supporters

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Among supporters of the prize are friends of Sir Michael Caine in the UK, United States and Africa, the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, the Zochonis Foundation, the Marit & Hans Rausing Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Headley Trust, the Esmee Fairbairn Charitable Trust, the David Alliance Family Foundation, the Cairns Charitable Trust, the Botwinick-Wolfensohn Family Foundation, the Sunrise Foundation, the Von Clemm Charitable Trust, the Royal Over-Seas League, Sarova Hotels, Bata Shoes (Kenya) Ltd and (Zimbabwe) Ltd and Kenya Airways.

The five African winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have supported the Caine Prize as patrons: Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Naguib Mahfouz, J. M. Coetzee and Abdulrazak Gurnah. Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, Sir Michael's widow, was founding president of the council and Jonathan Taylor the first Chair.[7]

Critical reception

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In 2011, Nigerian-American writer and critic Ikhide Ikheloa criticized the Caine Prize: "The creation of a prize for 'African writing' may have created the unintended effect of breeding writers willing to stereotype Africa for glory. The mostly lazy, predictable stories that made the 2011 shortlist celebrate orthodoxy and mediocrity. … The problem now is that many writers are skewing their written perspectives to fit what they imagine will sell to the West and the judges of the Caine Prize."[8]

In 2019, a story was removed from the shortlist after "an allegation" led to admission of "the author's failure to attribute a core source", i. e. Laleh Khadivi's 2014 story.[9]

List of winners

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Year Author Country Work Source(s)
2000 Leila Aboulela Sudan "The Museum" [10][11]
2001 Helon Habila Nigeria "Love Poems" [12][13]
2002 Binyavanga Wainaina Kenya "Discovering Home" [14][15]
2003 Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor Kenya "Weight of Whispers" [16][17]
2004 Brian Chikwava Zimbabwe "Seventh Street Alchemy" [18][19]
2005 S. A. Afolabi Nigeria "Monday Morning" [20][21]
2006 Mary Watson South Africa "Jungfrau" [22][23]
2007 Monica Arac de Nyeko Uganda "Jambula Tree" [24][25]
2008 Henrietta Rose-Innes South Africa "Poison" [26][27]
2009 E. C. Osondu Nigeria "Waiting" [28][29]
2010 Olufemi Terry Sierra Leone "Stickfighting Days" [30][31]
2011 NoViolet Bulawayo Zimbabwe "Hitting Budapest" [32][33]
2012 Rotimi Babatunde Nigeria "Bombay's Republic" [34][35]
2013 Tope Folarin Nigeria "Miracle" [36][37]
2014 Okwiri Oduor Kenya "My Father's Head" [38][39]
2015 Namwali Serpell Zambia "The Sack" [40][41]
2016 Lidudumalingani Mqombothi South Africa "Memories We Lost" [42][43]
2017 Bushra al-Fadil Sudan "The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away" [44][45]
2018 Makena Onjerika Kenya "Fanta Blackcurrant" [46][47]
2019 Lesley Nneka Arimah Nigeria "Skinned" [48][49]
2020 Irenosen Okojie Nigeria "Grace Jones" [50][51]
2021 Meron Hadero Ethiopia "The Street Sweep" [52][53]
2022 Idza Luhumyo Kenya "Five Years Next Sunday" [54][55]
2023 Mame Bougouma Diene Senegal "A Soul of Small Places" [56][57]

Notes

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  1. ^ Dwyer, Colin (8 July 2015). "Caine Prize Winner: Literature Is Not A Competitive Sport". NPR. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "About". The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing.
  3. ^ Alison Flood, "'African Booker' shortlist offers an alternative view of continent", The Guardian, 1 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Our New Chairperson". The Caine Prize. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  5. ^ "The AKO Foundation offers major support to the Caine Prize for African Writing". 29 January 2020.
  6. ^ "2018 Caine Prize for African Writing returns to SOAS next month", SOAS, University of London, 25 June 2018.
  7. ^ "Founding". The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing.
  8. ^ Ikhide R. Ikheloa, "The 2011 Caine Prize: How Not to Write About Africa", Next magazine, 20 May 2011. Archived at Ikhide.
  9. ^ "Caine Prize response to allegations against 'All Our Lives'". 3 September 2019.
  10. ^ "The Caine Prize". BBC. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  11. ^ "Leila Aboulela". Contemporary Writers. British Council. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  12. ^ Stephen Williams (1 September 2001). "Nigeria's Habila wins Caine prize". All Business. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  13. ^ "Helon Habila". Contemporary Writers. British Council. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  14. ^ Mwenda Micheni (3 May 2010). "Caine Prize sways African writing". The East African. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  15. ^ Stephen Williams (1 September 2002). "Caine Prize 2002: Top award goes to Kenya's Wainaina". All Business. Reprinted at The Free Library.
  16. ^ "Weight of Whispers by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor". Kwani. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  17. ^ Michelle Pauli (15 July 2003). "Kenya celebrates Caine prize double". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  18. ^ "Writing Pains". African Writing Online. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  19. ^ Michelle Pauli (20 July 2004). "Caine prize winner announced". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  20. ^ Michelle Pauli (6 July 2005). "Afolabi wins 'African Booker'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  21. ^ "Literary win for Nigerian writer". BBC. 5 July 2005. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  22. ^ Michelle Pauli (11 July 2006). "Mary Watson wins 'African Booker'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  23. ^ "SA literary prize winner's joy". BBC. 11 July 2006. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  24. ^ Michelle Pauli (10 July 2007). "Love story wins 'African Booker'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  25. ^ "'Taboo' story takes African prize". BBC. 10 July 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  26. ^ Lindesay Irvine (8 July 2008). "Henrietta Rose-Innes wins £10,000 Caine prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  27. ^ "South African wins top book prize". BBC. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  28. ^ Alison Flood (7 July 2009). "EC Osondu takes £10,000 'African Booker'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  29. ^ "Nigerian scoops African 'Booker'". BBC. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  30. ^ "Olufemi Terry Wins the £10 000 Caine Prize for African Writing". BOOK Southern Africa. 5 July 2010. Archived from the original on 14 December 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2010.
  31. ^ "Sierra Leone's Olufemi Terry wins Caine writing prize". BBC. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  32. ^ "NoViolet Bulawayo wins 'African Booker'". BBC News. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  33. ^ "Prize-winning story: Hitting Budapest". 15 July 2011.
  34. ^ Alison Flood (2 July 2012). "Nigerian writer Rotimi Babatunde wins Caine prize for African writing". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  35. ^ "Nigerian wins African writing prize". BBC. 5 July 2012.
  36. ^ Alison Flood (9 July 2013). "Tope Folarin wins Caine prize for African writing". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  37. ^ "Tope Folarin wins £10,000 Caine Prize". BBC. 8 July 2013.
  38. ^ Alison Flood (14 July 2014). "Kenyan writer Okwiri Oduor wins Caine prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  39. ^ "Kenyan wins prestigious African writing prize". BBC. 14 July 2014.
  40. ^ Alison Flood (6 July 2015). "Namwali Serpell wins £10,000 Caine Prize for African Writing". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  41. ^ "Zambian writer wins top literary prize". BBC. 6 July 2015.
  42. ^ Alison Flood (5 July 2016). "South African writer Lidudumalingani wins Caine prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  43. ^ "South African wins Caine Prize for African Writing". BBC. 5 July 2016.
  44. ^ Alison Flood (3 July 2017). "Sudanese author Bushra al-Fadil wins Caine Prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  45. ^ "Sudanese writer wins prestigious prize". BBC. 3 July 2017.
  46. ^ Alison Flood (2 July 2018). "Makena Onjerika wins Caine prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  47. ^ "Kenyan author wins African literary prize". BBC. 2 July 2018.
  48. ^ Alison Flood (8 July 2019). "Lesley Nneka Arimah wins Caine Prize for African Writing". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  49. ^ "Nigerian author wins Caine Prize". BBC. 8 July 2019.
  50. ^ Alison Flood (27 July 2020). "Irenosen Okojie wins Caine Prize for African Writing". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  51. ^ "Nigerian-British author wins Caine Prize". BBC. 27 July 2020.
  52. ^ Alison Flood (26 July 2021). "Meron Hadero becomes first Ethiopian winner of Caine Prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  53. ^ "Ethiopian author wins Caine Prize for African Writing". BBC. 26 July 2021.
  54. ^ Sarah Shaffi (18 July 2022). "Kenyan author Idza Luhumyo wins Caine Prize for African Writing". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  55. ^ "Kenyan author wins African writing prize". BBC. 18 July 2022.
  56. ^ Sarah Shaffi (3 July 2023). "Senegalese author Mame Bougouma Diene wins Caine Prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  57. ^ "Senegalese author wins prestigious literary prize". BBC. 3 July 2023.

References

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  • Rose-Innes, Henrietta. 2009. Ten Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing. New Internationalist Publications (Oxford, United Kingdom).
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