The joint shortlist for the 2018 Writivism Prizes for short fiction and creative non-fiction has been announced today, Friday July 20, 2018. The shortlists were selected by the two different panels of judges for the two respective categories of the annual prizes. The 3rd Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Non Fiction is judged by Akwaeke Emezi (chair), Sumayya Lee and Daniel Kalinaki while the 6th Writivism Short Story Prize is judged by Shadreck Chikoti (chair), Emmanuel Sigauke and Beatrice Lamwaka.
3rd Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Nonfiction Shortlist
- Belonging by Chisanga Mukuka (Zambia)
- Women Who Bleed Colours by Ope Adedeji (Nigeria)
- The Child and its Many Faces by Karis Onyemenam (Nigeria)
6th Writivism Short Story Prize Shortlist
- Hopes and Dreams by Mbogo Ireri (Kenya)
- The photograph by Mali Kambandu (Zambia)
- A River Ends in an Ocean by Obinna Jones (Nigeria)
The six shortlisted creative non fiction and short stories will be published on Enkare Review and Munyori Literary Journal as in previous years.
The authors of the shortlisted stories come from Zambia (2), Nigeria (3) and Kenya (1). They are all expected to attend the 6th Annual Writivism Festival in Kampala, where the winners will be announced. Each winner will be awarded $500 and each author of a shortlisted entry will be awarded $100. Winners will also be eligible for a one month writing residency at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
About the authors of the shortlisted stories
Originally from Zambia, Chisanga Mukuka was raised in Lesotho before moving to Cape Town, South Africa, where she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Media Theory & Practice at the University of Cape Town. She has always had a love for words and literature and recently took steps towards developing her own writing, both fiction and non-fiction.
Ope Adedeji dreams about a lot of things but most especially about bridging the gender equality gap and destroying the patriarchy. She is an intellectual property lawyer and currently, the Managing Editor of Ouida Books. Her work has appeared on Arts and Africa, Afreada and the Kalahari Review. If you do not find her reading a book, you would find her writing one.
Karis Onyemenam is a poet, writer and freelance photographer. Her short story was recently published in the inaugural issue of FLY zine, an online magazine that curates the experiences of women and non-binary people of colour at the University of Cambridge. Her Koffi Addo submission is part of a broader project that explores conflicting identities and the immigrant experience.
Mbogo Ireri is 38 years old and was born in Embu, Kenya. He lives in Nairobi with his wife and son (although currently he is away on a short job contract in Doha, Qatar). He wrote his first short story, when he was 18 and it was published by BBC Focus on Africa Magazine in 1999. He is a hotelier by profession.
Mali Kambandu lives in Lusaka, Zambia, with her husband and two children. Mali’s writing influences are Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, but her most cherished book is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. While storytelling came early for her, she didn’t write for pleasure until after university at Juniata College, though the writing courses she took there certainly gave her tools to use in the craft. At Juniata, she once contributed to the literary club magazine, Kvasir. In April 2018, Mali won the Kalemba Short Story Award in its inaugural year for her short story A hand to hold.
Obinna Jones. Nigerian. Sadly adult. Studying Physics at Imo State University, Owerri. Writes, reads and stalks Facebook celebrities. Has a dream of winning a Nobel prize in Physics or literature or both. Has works of fiction on elsieisy’s blog and sidomexentertainment’s blog.
For more information about the prizes, contact us on info@writivism.com. For more information on the festival, check out www.writivism.com.
The Writivism Prizes 