Kendeka Prize for African Literature 2023 longlist announced.

The longlist for the Kendeka Prize for African Literature 2023 was announced on Monday, September 19, 2023.

The Kendeka Prize for Africa Literature is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short story either fiction or creative non-fiction. Previous winners of the prize founded by Kenyan writer and publisher Andrew Maina have been Jenny Robson (2021) and Scholastica Moraa (2022)

The jury for 2023 is chaired by Natasha Omokhodion-Kalulu alongside, Richard Ali, and Pasomi Mucha.  

This panel has announced the longlist for the prize today which comprises;

• We Came for Mangoes, Hussani Abdulrahim, Nigeria
• What Ails this Country, Tom Sewe, Kenya
• Matlhalerwa, Keabetswe Molotsi, Botswana
• The Lance Corporal’s Door, Shedrack Opeyemi Akanbi, Nigeria
• The Collector of Tears, Evalyne Muliwa, Kenya 
• The Straw Traveler, Mathew Kipsang, Kenya
• Waiting on Sirius, Dismas Komollo Okombo, Kenya
• Muzukulu, Muruli Muhande, Kenya
• The Old Batman T-Shirt, Victor Williams Lawson, Nigeria
• Stolen Years, Yanjanani l. Banda, Malawi
• African Man Living Under a Rock, Brian Guserwa, Kenya
• At the End of the Day, Justice Jostino Ripinga, South Africa
• Neutralised, Joseph Akwa Takor, Cameroon

A shortlist of six stories shall be announced on September 26 while the top three winners shall be announced at a ceremony to be held on October 7, at Fourteen Falls Leisure Lodge, Thika, Kenya.