17 SEPTEMBER 2024, LONDON UK – The Caine Prize for African Writing is delighted to announce that South African writer Nadia Davids has been awarded the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing for her outstanding short story, Bridling, published in The Georgia Review in 2023.
This year’s competition witnessed a record-breaking number of submissions, with 320 entries spanning 28 African countries vying for the coveted prize, while also marking a significant milestone in the Caine Prize’s history as it enters its 25th year.
Speaking of the winning story, award winning author Chika Unigwe (Chair of Judges) said: “Bridling is an impressive achievement, a triumph of language, storytelling and risk-taking while maintaining a tightly controlled narrative about women who rebel. It embodies the spirit of the Caine Prize, which is to celebrate the richness and diversity of short stories by African writers. That is to say, to challenge the single story of African literature.”
Nadia Davids joins the esteemed rank of previous winners, including Senegalese writers Mame Bougouma Diene & Woppa Diallo (2023), Kenyan writer Idza Luhumyo (2022), Ethiopian-American writer Meron Hadero (2021), and Nigerian-British writer Irenosen Okjie (2020).
This year's judging panel comprised poet, artist and filmmaker Julianknxx; writer, scholar and filmmaker Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu; Hip-Hop artist Tumi Molekane aka Stogie T; and novelist Ayesha Harruna Attah.
Nadia Davids will receive the prestigious £10,000 Caine Prize, in addition to having her work featured in the 2024 Caine Prize Anthology, Midnight In the Morgue and Other Stories published by Cassava Republic Press. Runners-up Tryphena Yeboah, Samuel Kolawole, Uche Okonkwo and Pemi Aguda will receive a prize of £500 and also feature in the 2024 Caine Prize Anthology. The 2024 anthology will also include stories from this year’s workshop held in Salima, Malawi.
The Caine Prize for African Writing has played a pivotal role in shaping the careers of African writers for nearly 25 years, offering unmatched global visibility and opportunities, including publishing deals and writing fellowships. Commenting on this year’s award, Ellah Wakatama OBE, Chair of The Caine Prize Board of Trustees, expressed “I was delighted by the range and ambition of this year's shortlisted stories. It is especially pleasing to see writers many will recognise and to introduce new voices. As we enter into our 25th year, it’s wonderful to have such a strong shortlist and formidable Nadia Davis as our winner.”
Joining Nadia Davids on this year’s shortlist were:
Tryphena Yeboah (Ghana) for ‘The Dishwashing Women’, Narrative Magazine (Fall 2022)
Samuel Kolawole (Nigeria) for ‘Adjustment of Status’, New England Review, Vol. 44, #3 (Summer 2023)
Uche Okonkwo (Nigeria) for ‘Animals’, ZYZZYVA (2024)
Pemi Aguda (Nigeria) for ‘Breastmilk’, One Story, Issue #227 (2021)
ENDS
Access press package via Dropbox here
Social media: @caineprize
NOTES TO EDITOR
THE CAINE PRIZE
The Caine Prize for African Writing is a registered charity whose aim is to bring African writing to a wider audience using their annual literary award. In addition to administering the Prize, the charity works to connect readers with African writers through a series of public events, as well as helping emerging writers in Africa to enter the world of mainstream publishing through the annual Caine Prize writers’ workshop which takes place in a different African country each year.
The stories written at Caine Prize workshops are published annually alongside the Prize's shortlisted stories in the annual Caine Prize Anthology by Cassava Republic Press in the UK and publishers on the African continent.
It is named after the late Sir Michael Caine, former Chairman of Booker plc, who was Chairman of the 'Africa 95' arts festival in Europe and Africa in 1995 and for nearly 25 years Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee. After his death, friends and colleagues decided to establish a prize of £10,000 to be awarded annually in his memory.
WINNER’S BIO
NADIA DAVIDS
Nadia Davids is a South African writer, theater-maker and scholar. Her plays (At Her Feet, What Remains, Hold Still) have been staged throughout Southern Africa and in Europe. Her debut novel An Imperfect Blessing was shortlisted for Pan-African Etisalat Prize for Literature. Nadia’s short fiction and essays have appeared in The American Scholar, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Astra Magazine, The Georgia Review, the Johannesburg Review of Books and Zyzzyva Magazine. She’s held residencies at Hedgebrook, Art Omi and The Women’s Project, and was a 2023 Aspen Words Writer. Nadia has taught at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Cape Town and is the President Emeritus of PEN South Africa.
JUDGES’ BIO
CHIKA UNIGWE
Chika Unigwe serves as a creative writing professor at Georgia State College and University in Milledgeville, Georgia. She is a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction, whose works have been translated into several languages. Her notable works include the award-winning novel On Black Sisters' Street and the short-story collection Better Never Than Late. Her latest novel, The Middle Daughter, is published by Canongate Books. In 2023, Unigwe was knighted into the Order of the Crown by the Belgian government in recognition of her contributions to literature.
SIPHIWE GLORIA NDLOVU
Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean writer, scholar and filmmaker. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning novels, The Theory of Flight (2018), The History of Man (2020) and The Quality of Mercy (2022) published in southern Africa by Penguin Random House and in North America by Catalyst Press. Her fourth novel, The Creation of Half-Broken People, will be published by Picador Africa and House of Anansi in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Ndlovu holds a PhD in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. She has an MA in African Studies and an MFA in Film from Ohio University. Her short film, Graffiti, won several awards including the Silver Dhow at the Zanzibar International Film Festival. She received her BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College. She is a 2018 Morland Scholar and a 2022 recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize.
JULIANKNXX
Julianknxx is a Sierra Leonean poet, artist and filmmaker based in London, UK. His work has been shown at galleries and museums worldwide, with his acclaimed first institutional solo show ‘Chorus In Rememory of Flight’ at the Barbican, London (2023), called ‘transcendent and poignant’ by the Evening Standard. Shortlisted for the Jarman Award in 2023, his recent group shows include ‘A World in Common’ at Tate Modern, London (2023); ‘Rites of Passage’ at Gagosian, London (2023); and ‘To Be Held’ at Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate (2023). Previous participations include Whitechapel Gallery Open, London (2022); Nocturnal Creatures at Whitechapel Gallery (2021); Lux at 180 The Strand, London (2021) and The View from There at Sadie Coles HQ, London (2021).
TUMI MOLEKANE
Tumi Molekane aka Stogie T, is a South African Hip-Hop artist, bold and unconventional lyricist, pragmatic thinker and observer. Known for writing in caveats, his work strikes a delicate balance between different worlds and forms a nuanced narrative of the country and continent as a whole. His works both critique power and its innate tendency to corrupt, while also dissecting the nightmares of Joburg’s underworld with striking imagery. A contemporary voice of the people and enigmatic storyteller, Molekane has appeared on Sway In The Morning in 2018, among other shows. His songs include ‘Sub City’ from his self-titled 2016 album and ‘Broke People’ from 2015’s Return of the King.
AYESHA HARRUNA ATTAH
Ayesha Harruna Attah is the author of five novels, including the Commonwealth Prize-nominated Harmattan Rain, William Saroyan Prize finalist The Hundred Wells of Salaga, and The Deep Blue Between. She was educated at Mount Holyoke College, Columbia University, and New York University. She is the 2023-2024 Literature Protégée for the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative and is being mentored by Bernardine Evaristo. Attah currently lives in Senegal.