The jury for the Caine Prize for African Writing 2026 has been announced, with Nigerian journalist, broadcaster, and documentary maker Bola Mosuro serving as chair. The other jurors are Ghanaian-American author and editor Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Sudanese curator and writer Orsod Malik, South African writer and academic Siphiwo Mahala, and Ugandan-British actress and playwright Sheila Atim.
The Caine Prize for African Writing is awarded annually to an African writer published in English for a short story. The prize has recognised some of the most famous writers working today, like Leila Aboulela, Helon Habila, Yvonne Adhiambo Owour, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and more. In recent times, winners have been Nadia Davids (2024), Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo (2023), Idza Luhumyo (2022), Meron Hadero (2021), Irenosen Okojie (2020), and Lesley Nneka Arimah (2019). In 2025, the Prize departed from its usual format to celebrate NoViolet Bulawayo as the best winner of the last quarter-century.
The journey for 2026 kicked off with the revelation of the jury chair, Bola Mosuro, last week, before the rest of the panel, comprising a formidable mix of talent, insight, and expertise spanning arts and culture at the highest level, was unveiled today.
Ellah Wakatama, Chair of the Prize, said: “Over the years, we have been intentional about challenging the idea that there is such a thing as a ‘Caine Prize story’ and, by extension, an ‘African story.’ One of the ways we have achieved this is by assembling panels of cultural producers drawn from different disciplines, geographies, generations, and lived experiences, united by one purpose – valorising the best short stories being written today. The result is a shortlist that resists expectation and reflects, as one of our judges, Siphiwo Mahala, so beautifully put, a ‘kaleidoscope of contemporary African voices.’”
This jury will meet in September to select and announce a winner from the five shortlisted authors. Each writer shortlisted for the Caine Prize will be awarded £500, and the winner will receive a £10,000 prize. If a work in translation is chosen as the winning story, the prize will be split 70% to the author and 30% to the translator.
The shortlisted stories will be published in the official Caine Prize anthology alongside works from a live workshop to be held this spring. Entries for the 2026 Prize close at midnight on February 27, with the shortlist to be announced on September 1.
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