2 hours ago
1
Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has won the Best of Caine award, an honorary prize celebrating a story from past winners of the Caine Prize for African Writing, to mark its 25th anniversary. The prize was given for a short story praised by judges for its “powerful language, distinctive tone of voice, and bold, compelling storytelling”.
Hitting Budapest, which won the 2011 Caine prize, follows a group of six children who sneak from their shantytown, Paradise, into an affluent neighbourhood, Budapest, to steal guavas. First published in the Boston Review, it examines poverty, social and economic inequalities, and the dreams of children.
“Budapest is like a different country. A country where people who are not like us live,” says the narrator, a nine-year-old girl called Darling. “Budapest is big, big houses with the graveled yards and tall fences and durawalls and flowers and green trees, heavy with fruit that’s waiting for us since nobody around here seems to know what fruit is for. It’s the fruit that gives us courage, otherwise we wouldn’t dare be here.”
Speaking after receiving the award at the inaugural Words Across Waters: Afro Lit Fest at the British Library in London today, Bulawayo said winning the Best of Caine award 14 years after her Caine prize success “feels like a moment to reflect on the journey”.
“Winning the Caine prize as an unpublished writer back in 2011 was truly the kind of defining highlight to jumpstart a career,” she said. “It brought my work to a global audience, affirmed my literary path, and strengthened my confidence and commitment to writing, so that finishing a first novel worthy of the recognition bestowed on me by Africa’s most prestigious literary award – my first ever recognition – was non-negotiable.”
Bulawayo was announced as the winner by Ellah Wakatama, the chair of the Caine prize.
The judging panel for the Best of Caine award was headed by author and Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, and featured novelist and short story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and film producer Tony Tagoe.
Bulawayo was born and raised in Zimbabwe and moved to the US when she was 18.
Hitting Budapest came about as she was working on a book, and it served as the first chapter of her critically acclaimed debut novel, We Need New Names, which was shortlisted for the Booker prize in 2013 – a first for a Black African woman – and the Guardian First Book award.
Her second novel, Glory, a satire about the fall of an oppressive regime inspired by the coup against Robert Mugabe, was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker prize.
after newsletter promotion
Bulawayo currently teaches at Cornell University.
The Caine prize is a £10,000 award that celebrates English-language short stories by African writers. It is named after Sir Michael Caine, a longtime chairperson of the Booker prize management committee.
Since it was founded in 2000, the annual prize has recognised 25 winners from 10 different countries. Other past recipients include Kenyan Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Nigerian Helon Habila and South African Nadia Davids.
