The Caine Prize is awarded each year to a groundbreaking short story by an African writer, published in English.  As Nobel-prize winner Wole Soyinka has commented, “the Caine Prize has played a vital role in supporting new writing from Africa, breathing fresh life into the renaissance surge in African literature”.

Bernadine Evaristo, chair of the judges this year, praised the originality and variety of the entries.  She explained: “We’ve chosen a bravely provocative homosexual story set in Malawi; a Nigerian soldier fighting in the Burma Campaign of WW2, a hardboiled noir tale involving a disembodied leg; a drunk young Kenyan who outwits his irate employers; and the tension between Senegalese siblings over migration and family responsibility.”

At the King’s event we’ll be welcoming all of the shortlisted writers alongside academics working in African literature.  Participants include Zoe Norridge (York & King’s), Ranka Primorac (Southampton), Gretchen Gerzina (Brunel), Oladipo Agboloage (writer and playwright), Lyn Innes (Kent) and Mpalive Msiska (Birkbeck).

The event will be particularly relevant for undergraduates and graduates with an interest in creative writing, African Studies, Postcolonial and World Literature.  The symposium is a collaboration between the Institute of English Studies and the English Department and Comparative Literature Programme at King’s College, London.

Please e-mail robert@raittorr.co.uk if you’d like to attend.

For more about the Caine Prize and to read the shortlisted entries online please visit: www.caineprize.com