Caine Prize

History and background

The Caine Prize is a registered charity with the aim of bringing African writing to a wider audience through an annual literary award. It is named after businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Caine (1927–1999), former Chairman of Booker plc, who also chaired the "Africa95" arts festival and the Booker Prize management committee for almost 25 years. After his death, friends and colleagues established the prize to be awarded annually in his memory.

The prize was first awarded in 2000, to the Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela for her short story "The Museum", at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in Harare. In its first year the Caine Prize attracted entries from 20 African countries.

Historically, the winner was announced at a dinner in July, at an event formerly held in Oxford but more recently at SOAS, University of London, to which the shortlisted candidates were all invited. This formed part of a week of activities for the candidates, including readings, book signings and press opportunities.

In 2024, the Caine Prize declared that it would "re-centre" itself on the African continent, with a planned year-long celebration of the prize’'s 25th anniversary in 2025. Proposed events include readings and discussions involving the shortlisted writers and past winners, and tributes to writers such as the late Charles Mungoshi (Zimbabwe), who was shortlisted in 2000, and the late Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya), who won the award in 2002.

The Caine Prize also arranges writers' workshops that are held in a different African country each year.

25th Anniversary and the Best of Caine Award

The year 2025 marked the Caine Prize's 25th anniversary. In 2024, the Caine Prize declared that it would "re-centre" itself on the African continent, with a planned year-long celebration. Proposed events included readings and discussions involving the shortlisted writers and past winners, and tributes to writers such as the late Charles Mungoshi, who was shortlisted in 2000, and the late Binyavanga Wainaina, who won the award in 2002.

To honor the anniversary, the prize also established the Best of Caine award, an honorary prize recognizing the best short story from all previous Caine Prize winners across the last 25 years.

Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo was announced as the winner of the Best of Caine award on September 27, 2025, at the inaugural Words Across Waters: Afro Lit Fest at the British Library in London. Bulawayo won the prize for her story "Hitting Budapest," which originally won the Caine Prize in 2011. The story, which follows a group of children sneaking into an affluent neighborhood to steal fruit, was praised by the judges for its "powerful language, distinctive tone of voice, and bold, compelling storytelling."

The judging panel for the honorary award was chaired by Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, and included novelist and short story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and film producer Tony Tagoe. Bulawayo described the achievement as a "defining highlight" that affirmed her literary path and strengthened her commitment to writing.

Supporters

Among supporters of the prize are friends of Sir Michael Caine in the UK, United States and Africa, the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, the Zochonis Foundation, the Marit & Hans Rausing Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Headley Trust, the Esmee Fairbairn Charitable Trust, the David Alliance Family Foundation, the Cairns Charitable Trust, the Botwinick-Wolfensohn Family Foundation, the Sunrise Foundation, the Von Clemm Charitable Trust, the Royal Over-Seas League, Sarova Hotels, Bata Shoes (Kenya) Ltd and (Zimbabwe) Ltd and Kenya Airways.

The five African winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have supported the Caine Prize as patrons: Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Naguib Mahfouz, J. M. Coetzee and Abdulrazak Gurnah. Sir Michael's widow, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, was founding president of the council and Jonathan Taylor was the first Chair, with Nick Elam the first administrator.

Critical reception

In 2011, Nigerian-American writer and critic Ikhide Ikheloa criticized the Caine Prize: "The creation of a prize for 'African writing' may have created the unintended effect of breeding writers willing to stereotype Africa for glory. The mostly lazy, predictable stories that made the 2011 shortlist celebrate orthodoxy and mediocrity. … The problem now is that many writers are skewing their written perspectives to fit what they imagine will sell to the West and the judges of the Caine Prize."

In 2019, a story was removed from the shortlist after "an allegation" led to admission of "the author's failure to attribute a core source", i. e. Laleh Khadivi's 2014 story.

List of winners

Notes

References

• Rose-Innes, Henrietta. 2009. Ten Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing. New Internationalist Publications (Oxford, United Kingdom).

References

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