Iskanchi Book Prize 2025 shortlist announced

The Iskanchi Book Prize 2025 shortlist, the second edition in the project, was announced on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

Iskanchi Press, which has produced several literary magazine editions and numerous books, was founded in 2020. In 2024, they announced the Iskanchi Book Prize to bring to light the best new writing from the continent. Open to African writers wherever they lived, it sought to honour outstanding prose and hybrid book manuscripts, offering someone a publishing opportunity. The first winner was Aminta Dupuis.

The 2025 edition of the competition kicked off with the announcement of the shortlist on Tuesday, May 27.

The jury said, “This year, we received more submissions than last year, with exceptional manuscripts coming in from across the African continent. The sheer potential and diversity in our submission pile made the task of selecting a shortlist of ten incredibly difficult. We are convinced now, more than ever, that a new wave of thematically and stylistically diverse fiction has emerged, as writers experiment with different genres and explore controversial themes. This shortlist reflects some of the most genre-bending and boundary-pushing fiction on the continent.”

The ten shortlisted manuscripts are;

• On Rainy Days I Think of Flowers, Ezioma Kalu (Nigeria)
• The Hollow Sound of Lightweight Bodies, Unathi Slasha (South Africa)
• Souls of Independence, Peter Ngĩla Nzeli (Kenya)
• Xabanisa, Aryan Kaganof (South Africa)
• Mono: Tales of the Tapa Kingdom, Valerie Chatindo (Zimbabwe)
• A Season for Mending, Margaret Muthee (Kenya)
• Nandi Bear, Abenea Ndago (Kenya)
• Mourning, Karen Williams (South Africa)
• The Black Hand, Dafe Great (Nigeria)
• Enchanted Village, Lauwo wa Lauwo (Tanzania)

The winner announcement will take place via a virtual event in June.