Hailing the Caine Prize
14 Sep 2014 8:39 PM GMT
The Caine Prize is an annual prize for the best short story written in English by an African author. It was founded in 2000, in memory of Sir Michael Harris Caine, and is considered the African Booker.
It attracts writers from across the continent and when first set up, writers came from 20 countries with the Sundanese writer Leila Aboulela being awarded the prize in 2000 for her story The Museum.
This year the Kenyan author Okwiri Oduor won the prize for her story My Father’s Head, exploring the theme of memory, loss and loneliness, as the narrator reflects the loss of her father. Till date four of the winners have come from Nigeria, and three winners from Kenya, with other winners coming from Sudan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda and Sierra Leone. The prize is currently awarded at a dinner in Oxford, with the prize money being £10,000.
The prize has met with both criticism and acclaim, with some writers feeling that the narratives entrench stereotypes and a narrow worldview of Africa, and that it may encourage some writers to write with a perspective of what they feel may sell or be palatable to the western market. It is marketed as the leading literary prize in Africa, and it would be fair to say that it overlooks great writing that may be being written in other languages within Africa. The prize is supported by some African Nobel Prize winners of literature including Wole Soyinka and the acclaimed writer Ben Okri who states the prize is an idea ‘to enrich the world through its greater contact with Africa, and to enrich Africa through its greater contact with the world.’
Prizes are little gems on the writer’s path; however they are neither the journey nor the destination. Prizes such as the Caine Prize may act like a catalyst within the mind of the African writer however they should write their story irrespective of the little gem and continue on the journey of the portrayal of life, people and beauty of Africa and beyond in its entirety.
Email: anuj@suryastra.com
It attracts writers from across the continent and when first set up, writers came from 20 countries with the Sundanese writer Leila Aboulela being awarded the prize in 2000 for her story The Museum.
This year the Kenyan author Okwiri Oduor won the prize for her story My Father’s Head, exploring the theme of memory, loss and loneliness, as the narrator reflects the loss of her father. Till date four of the winners have come from Nigeria, and three winners from Kenya, with other winners coming from Sudan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda and Sierra Leone. The prize is currently awarded at a dinner in Oxford, with the prize money being £10,000.
The prize has met with both criticism and acclaim, with some writers feeling that the narratives entrench stereotypes and a narrow worldview of Africa, and that it may encourage some writers to write with a perspective of what they feel may sell or be palatable to the western market. It is marketed as the leading literary prize in Africa, and it would be fair to say that it overlooks great writing that may be being written in other languages within Africa. The prize is supported by some African Nobel Prize winners of literature including Wole Soyinka and the acclaimed writer Ben Okri who states the prize is an idea ‘to enrich the world through its greater contact with Africa, and to enrich Africa through its greater contact with the world.’
Prizes are little gems on the writer’s path; however they are neither the journey nor the destination. Prizes such as the Caine Prize may act like a catalyst within the mind of the African writer however they should write their story irrespective of the little gem and continue on the journey of the portrayal of life, people and beauty of Africa and beyond in its entirety.
Email: anuj@suryastra.com
Next Story
