Kenyan Writer Okwiri Oduor was announced as the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing on Monday with her short story ‘My Father’s Head’, in which the narrator deals with the loss their father. Writer and chief judge Jackie Kay (MBE) describes the piece as an ‘uplifting story about mourning-Joycean in its reach’ and added that ‘it is a story that you want to return to the minute you finish’.
Okwiri , how was born in Nairobi, received £10,000 for writing the winning story as well as the opportunity to take a one month writing residency at Georgetown University. She is currently working on her first novel and her 2012 novella ‘The Dream Chasers’ which received much critical acclaim. In 2013 she also directed the Writivism Festival in Uganda.
The prize, which is now in its 15th year, celebrates the work of African authors writing in English. Previous winners include Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo and Nigerian author Olufemi Terry
Shortlisted writers each received a £500 prize in celebration of the award’s 15 year anniversary.
Shortlisted Writers
- Diane Awerbuck (South Africa) “Phosphorescence” in Cabin Fever (2011)
- Efemia Chela (Ghana/Zambia) “Chicken” in Feast, Famine and Potluck (2013)
- Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwe) “The Intervention” in Open Road Review (2013)
- Billy Kahora (Kenya) “The Gorilla’s Apprentice” in Granta (2010)
