Kenyan writer Onjerika scoops £10,000 Caine Prize | The Bookseller

Narrated in the first person plural, "Fanta Blackcurrant" follows Meri, a street child of Nairobi, who makes a living using her natural intelligence and charisma, but wants nothing more than "a big Fanta Blackcurrant for her to drink every day and it never finish". While it seems Meri's natural wit may enable her to escape the streets, days follow days and years follow years, and having turned to the sex trade, she finds herself pregnant. Her success stealing from Nairobi's business women attracts the attention of local criminals, who beat her and leave her for dead.

Mengestu praised the story in his remarks, saying: Tthe winner of this year's Caine Prize is as fierce as they come - a narrative forged but not defined by the streets of Nairobi, a story that stands as more than just witness. Makena Onjerika's ‘Fanta Blackcurrant' presides over a grammar and architecture of its own making, one that eschews any trace of sentimentality in favour of a narrative that is haunting in its humour, sorrow and intimacy".