Short Story Day Africa Prize 2017 longlist announced

The Short Story Africa Prize 2017 has announced the 21 Africans making the cut for one of the continent’s most respected literary prizes.

Short Story Day Africa is one of the more well-known literary prizes on the African continent today. Coming out of a South African base, the prize recognises short story writers from all over the rock we live on. Previous winners of this prize include Sibongile Fisher (2016), Cat Hellisen (2015), Diane Awerbuck (2014), and Okwiri Oduor (2013). Short Story Day Africa also helps to increasing the skills set of African writers with workshops across the continent.

The theme for this year’s edition of Short Story Day Africa’s “ID” with organisers seeking innovative short fiction exploring identity, especially (but not limited to) the themes of gender identity and sexuality. From the entries that were made, there were twenty one longlisted from Benin (1), Cameroon (1), Ethiopia (2), Kenya (3), Morocco (1), Nigeria (5), Somalia (1), South Africa (5), Uganda (1), and Zimbabwe (1). Here is the full longlist;

• Who We Were Then, Who We Are Now by Nadu Ologoudou (Benin)
• A Brief Eruption Of Madness by Eric Essono Tsimi (Cameroon)
• The Piano Player by Agazit Abate (Ethiopia)
• When the War Came Home by Heran Abate (Ethiopia)
• Unblooming by Alexis Teyie (Kenya).
• The Geography of Sunflowers by Michelle Angwenyi (Kenya).
• Sew Your Mouth by Cherrie Kandie (Kenya).
• Blue in Green by Chourouq Nasri (Morocco).
• Taba by Adelola Ojutiku (Nigeria)
• Limbo by Innocent Ilo (Nigeria).
• All Our Lives by Okafor Tochukwu (Nigeria)
• Ibinabo by Michael Agugom (Nigeria)
• Fever by Alithnayn Abdulkareem (Nigeria)
• Bloated by Hanna Ali (Somalia)
• Borrowed by the Wind by David Medalie (South Africa)
• God Skin by Michael Yee (South Africa)
• Transubstantiation by Genna Gardini (South Africa)
• Plums by Kharys Laue (South Africa)
• The House on the Corner by Lester Walbrugh (South Africa).
• Waiting by Harriet Anena (Uganda)
• South of Samora by Farai Mudzingwa (Zimbabwe).

There will be an anthology produced from the above longlisted entries, ID: New Short Fiction from Africa, which will be edited by Helen Moffett, who will select her editing fellows as part of the SSDA/Worldreader Editing Mentorship, now in its second year. The collection is due for release in July 2018.

The shortlist – 1st, 2nd and 3rd place – will be announced early next year.