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Subject: Caine Prize for African Writing - Winner 2004
African Books Collective and Michigan State University Press would like to
congratulate author - Brian Chikwava, and publisher - Weaver Press
Zimbabwe, on winning the fifth annual Caine Prize for African Writing. The
winning story 'Seventh Street Alchemy' was published in the anthology 'Writing
Still: New Stories from Zimbabwe' edited by Irene Staunton. The anthology
is available within North America from Michigan State University Press -
www.msupress.msu.edu and outside North America from African Books
Collective www.africanbookscollective.com
*Press Release*
2004 Caine Prize Winner Announced
Brian Chikwava, from Zimbabwe, has won the fifth Caine Prize for African
Writing for 'Seventh Street Alchemy' from Writing Still, Weaver Press,
Harare 2003. The result was announced by the Chair of the judges, Alvaro
Ribeiro, at a dinner held this evening (Monday, 19 July) in the Bodleian
Library in Oxford. Brian is the first winner of the Prize from Zimbabwe.
"A very strong narrative in which Brian Chikwava of Zimbabwe claims the
English language as his own, and English with African characteristics,"
said Alvaro Ribeiro. "A triumph for the long tradition of Zimbabwe writing
in the face of Zimbabwe's uncertain future!"
Although from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, Brian Chikawava
spent his formative years in Harare, where at the popular artistes' venue,
The Book Café, he regularly took part in poet evenings, public discussions
and music performances. It is here that he started experimenting with
different genres of art by collaborating with other young writers and
musicians in an attempt to create new ways of presenting the African
experience.
Brian has recently relocated to London and is working on his first projects
outside Zimbabwe - Bubble Wrapping Artificial Shit, a novella that he has
just started writing, and Jacaranda Skits, a music album of his unique and
'whole-wheat' sound that blends his writing abilities with southern African
township jazz, ska and blues.
Also on the shortlist were:
* Doreen Baingana (Uganda) for 'Hunger' from the Sun Magazine, March
2003;
* Parselelo Kantai (Kenya) for 'The Story of Comrade Lemma and the Black
Jerusalem Boys Band' from Kwani?, Nairobi 2003;
* Monica Arac de Nyeko (Uganda) for 'Strange Fruit' from Cook
Communication,
online magazine AuthorMe;
* Chika Unigwe (Nigeria) for 'The Secret' from online literature
magazine
Open Wide.
Last year's Prize was awarded to Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor from Kenya, for
'Weight of Whispers' from Kwani?, Nairobi 2003. Yvonne is currently
Executive Director of the Zanzibar International Film Festival and has been
named 'Woman of the Year' by Eve Magazine in Nairobi. Kenyan writer and
journalist Binyavanga Wainaina won the Prize in 2002 for 'Discovering
Home', from G21Net 2001. Wainaina has since gone on to establish Kwani?,
Kenya's only literary magazine, from which both Yvonne's story and one of
this year's short listed stories were chosen.
Alvaro Ribeiro, this year's Chair of the judges, was also a judge for the
first Caine Prize in 2000. Alvaro is Associate Professor of English at
Georgetown University, Washington DC, where he teaches courses on
Shakespeare, the Eighteenth Century and the Man Booker Prize. The other
judges on this year's panel included Nigerian playwright Biyi Bandele;
Bernice Rubens, whose novels include 'The Elected Member' for which she won
the 1970 Booker Prize, 'Our Father', and most recently 'Nine Lives'; Anna
Umbima, broadcaster and journalist; and Nana Wilson-Tagoe, Senior Lecturer
in African Literature, at the School of Oriental and African Studies
(SOAS), University of London.
Note:
The Caine Prize, awarded annually for African creative writing, is named
after the late Sir Michael Caine, former Chairman of Booker plc and
Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee for nearly 25 years. The
Prize is awarded for a short story by an African writer, published in
English (whether in Africa or elsewhere), with an indicative length of
3,000 to 15,000 words. An "African writer" will normally be taken to mean
someone who was born in Africa, or who is a national of an African country,
or whose parents are African, and whose work has reflected that cultural
background.
The four African winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka,
Naguib Mahfouz, Nadine Gordimer and J M Coetzee, are Patrons of The Caine
Prize. Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne is President of the Council and
Jonathan Taylor is the Chairman.
For further information please contact:
Pernille Goodall Nick Elam
Raitt Orr & Associates Ltd The Caine Prize for African
Writing
Tel: 020 7222 5479 Tel: 020 7376 0440
Fax: 020 7222 5480 Fax: 020 7938 3728
E-mail: [log in to unmask] E-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.caineprize.com
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Emilie Ngo Nguidjol Email: [log in to unmask]
Reference and Francophone Studies Phone: 608-262-3647
Memorial Library, Room 262A FAX: 608-262-8569
University of Wisconsin-Madison
728 State Street
Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A.
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