This issue has been delayed for weeks because of the Caine Prize. We spent the last six weeks before the eventual announcement following the horse race. Each of the shortlisted stories was reviewed and discussed here. Then in the last week, a general comparative appraisal was done, projecting who the eventual winner might be. It turned out to be Tope Folarin, for his story Miracle. Readers who would like to review the Caine Prize 2013 shortlist and our coverage of it might want to check out the following links:
- The Children of Bayan Layi – a review of Bayan Layi by Elnathan John (March 19, 2013)
- Losing a Faith You Never Had – a review of Miracle by Tope Folarin (March 26, 2013)
- The Travails of Logan – a review of Foreign Aid by Pede Hollist (June 2, 2013)
- The Fledgeling Whispers of a Story – a review of Whispering Trees by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (June 8, 2013)
- No, not “America” but Love – a review of America by Chinelo Okparanta (June 20, 2013)
- Waiting for Caine 2013 by Kola Tubosun (July 1, 2013)
In the waiting period, we also had a conversation with Tope Folarin, the eventual winner, who suggested that his existence as an African living in America winning the Caine Prize should continue the right conversation about the presence of these kinds of people rather than increase scrutiny about the need to define it to our satisfaction. Read it.
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In this edition, I continue with a dialogue about the Caine Prize with a conversation with Aaron Bady whose conversation with Chimamanda Adichie earlier in the past week made waves for a wrong reason: her displeasure with (and attack on) the Caine Prize and what it represents. Aaron shares his opinion about Ms Adichie’s disposition during their interview, and about the issue itself and other issues in the politics of rewarding African literature, along with other matters of note in African literature today.
Other works in this issue are:
- “Four Cowries” poems and prose poems by Ikhide Ikheloa
- “Abiku” | Fiction by Jumoke Verissimmo
- “Flash Fictions” | by D.M. Aderibigbe
Enjoy!
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KT
Lagos.