 Our Book Buzz category has been rather pathetic from the inception
of this blog, thanks to me, mostly because though we live in Africa,
we haven't necessarily read African writers. Are we sorry about that?
Yes. Are we embarrassed to admit it? Absolutely. So, when the Caine
Prize Shortlist was announced on April 2Oth, we thought we’d use it
as an opportunity to enhance our Book Buzz.
If you haven’t heard of the Caine Prize, you’re not alone. We just discovered
it ourselves thanks to the fabulous blog Moorish
Girl. Of late, I have become what Dan calls a Blog Hawk, obsessively reading
literary blogs, some of which are awesome -- Blog
of a Bookslut, The Elegant Variation,
Book Ninja, Rake's
Progress, Happy Booker. Beware,
if you like books and have some time on your hands (i.e., you're a writer living
in Africa who spends her days in front of the computer and never gets out of
her pajamas), because you will be sucked way up into the blog spinning vortex.
The Caine is a $15,000 prize awarded to a short story by an African writer
published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere, whose work reflects African
sensibilities.
The 2005 finalists are:
Doreen Baingana (Uganda) for "Tropical
Fish."
Jamal Mahjoub (Sudan) for "The Obituary Tangle."
SA Afolabi (Nigeria) for "Monday Morning."
Ike Okonta (Nigeria) for "Tindi in the Land of the Dead."
Mutual Naidoo (South Africa) with "Jailbirds."
You can read more
about the Prize in the Guardian.
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