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| Kenyan Writer Okwiri Oduor |
Kenyan writer Okwiri Oduor has
won the 15th edition of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Oduor’s victory was announced on Monday, July 14th,
2014 at a dinner at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England held to
celebrate the shortlisted candidates, including Efemia Chela from Ghana and Zambia (who was nominated for
her story “Chicken”), Diane Awerbuck
from South Africa (“Phosphorescence”), Tendai Huchu from
Zimbabwe (“The Intervention”), and Billy Kahora from
Kenya (“The Gorilla’s Apprentice”).
Oduor’s story,
which tells of a woman struggling to remember the face of her deceased father
while surrounded by the elderly, grapples with issues of loss, memory and
loneliness. Jackie Kay, the Chair of Judges for
the Caine Prize, called Oduor’s writing “Joycean
in its reach…subtle, tender and moving”.
This
is Oduor’s second big literature prize recognition: in 2012 her novella The Dream Chasers was
highly commended by the Commonwealth Book Prize. In addition to
the £500 she received for being shortlisted for the Caine Prize, Oduor was
awarded £10,000 for her win, as well as a month-long residency
at Georgetown University in Washington DC. She will be invited to appear
at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, the Storymoja Hay
Festival in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Ake Festival in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
The
Caine Prize is named after the late Sir Michael Caine,
former chairman of the Booker Prize management committee. This year’s
panel of judges included writer Gillian Slovo,
Zimbabwean journalist Percy Zvomuya,
professor Dr Nicole Rizzuto, and Nigerian
writer and 2001 Caine Prize winner Helon Habila. Last
year’s prize was won by Nigerian-American Tope Folarin
for his story “Miracle”.
Congratulations
to Oduor!
