Caine Prize 2012:
Magazine
The Caine Prize for African Writing has come of age this year, with energetic chairing of the judges by Bernardine Evaristo and a further reaching-out to a wider African and international audience.
This year the thirteenth ‘African Booker’ has produced an anthology, African Violet, which will be published in six African countries and consists of five shortlisted stories from the Caine Prize entries, and 10 short stories produced at the workshop held in South Africa in March 2012. Evaristo described the shortlisted stories in the anthology as "truly diverse fiction from a truly diverse continent".
The new co-publishers - Sub-Saharan Publishers (Ghana), FEMRITE (Uganda), and Bookworld Publishers (Zambia) - will join previous publishers of the anthology, the New Internationalist (UK), Jacana (South Africa; co-publishers since 2001), Cassava Republic (Nigeria; co-publishers since 2010), and Kwani (Kenya; co-publishers since 2011). All six African publishers will produce, promote and distribute this year's anthology, which will also be published in ebook form by New Internationalist.
Dan Raymond Barker, Books Marketing Manager at New Internationalist commented: "It's important for this ground-breaking literary prize to have as wide a readership as possible across Africa and the wider world. New Internationalist is delighted to be among such a diverse and growing list of international publishers. And with the addition of the ebook format this year we aim to bring greater enjoyment and recognition of the Caine Prize."
This year’s award ceremony is to be held on July 2 in Oxford. In London the shortlisted writers will read from their work at the Royal Overseas League on Thursday, 28 June at 7pm, and at the Southbank Centre, on Sunday, 1 July at 4.30pm. On Saturday, 30 June at 3pm the shortlisted writers will take part in the Africa Writes Festival at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, organised by the Royal African Society. A seminar on African Writing will also be held on Wednesday, 4 July at 1pm at the Anatomy Museum, King's College London.
© Chris Holifield 2012
