Finally the long awaited Commonwealth short story prize shortlist has been announced, and two Nigerians are on it. Their names are Akwaeke Emezi and Kelechi Njoku. The third African on the shortlist is South African writer, Diane Awerbuck.
The aforementioned three were part of the 21 outstanding stories selected from 6000 entries received from the 49 commonwealth countries. Below is a complete shortlist
An Enquiry into Morality’ Tom Vowler (UK)
‘By Way of a Life Plot’, Kelechi Njoku (Nigeria)
‘Close to Home’, Jinny Koh (Singapore)
‘Cursing Mrs Murphy’, Roland Watson-Grant (Jamaica)
‘Drawing Lessons’, Anushka Jasraj (India)
‘Echolocation’, Sarah Jackson (UK)
‘Gauloises Blue’, Ruth Lacey (Australia)
‘Gypsy in the Moonlight’, Caroline Gill (Canada)
‘Harbour’, Chloe Wilson (Australia)
‘Hot Pot’, Jasmine Sealy (Canada)
‘Immunity’, Damon Chua (Singapore)
‘Nagmaal’, Diane Awerbuck (South Africa)
‘Numb’, Myfanwy McDonald (Australia)
‘Shopping’, Jon Lewis-Katz (Trinidad and Tobago)
‘Swimmer of Yangtze’, Yiming Ma (Canada)
‘The Brief, Insignificant History of Peter Abraham Stanhope’, Mary Rokonadravu (Fiji)
‘The Death of Margaret Roe’, Nat Newman (Australia)
‘The Dying Wish’, Caroline Mackenzie (Trinidad and Tobago)
‘The Naming of Moths’, Tracy Fells (UK)
‘The Sweet Sop’, Ingrid Persaud (Trinidad and Tobago)
‘Who is Like God’, Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria)
Author’s biographies and excerpts from each of the stories can be found HERE. Winners will be announced in Singapore on the 30th of June, 2017.
Good luck to the writers on the shortlist.
Source: Two Nigerians Make Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2017 Shortlist – Creative Writing News
