Sabah Carrim Wins 2024 Afritondo Short Story Prize

Sabah Carrim is the 2024 Afritondo Short Story Prize winner.

Her captivating story, “Fading Mehndi”, impressed the judges with its creativity and masterful storytelling.

Jarred Thompson, one of the judges for the 2024 prize, said: “The story bristles with the irony that describes how rituals are meant to influence fate and how, despite that, human idiosyncrasies always cause unexpected rifts—and the fantasies of these.”

Sabah is a Mauritius-born author with a PhD in Genocide Studies and an MFA in Creative Writing. She has published two novels, “Humeiran” and “Semi-Apes,” both set in her homeland. This isn’t her first brush with Afritondo; her story “Dadima’s Key Ring” was shortlisted for the 2022 prize and published in the anthology “Rain Dance”.

Reacting to the announcement, Sabah said: “I was really surprised. I didn’t expect this, and I am honest in saying that. I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. I have read the other stories, and they are all exceptional. I am very proud to be part of this community and to see the panoply of stories coming out of all of us.”

The Afritondo Short Story Prize, created in 2019, aims to create a platform to celebrate the works of talented Black writers. This is the 5th edition of the prize, and to celebrate this milestone, the judges of the 2024 prize were all previous winners of the award:

·         Jarred Thompson (South Africa): “Good Help is Hard to Find” in “Yellow Means Stay”

·         Desta Haile (Eritea): EthioCubano in “The Hope, The Prayer, & The Anthem”

·         Howard Mehbuh (Cameroon): Grotto in “Rain Dance”

The winner of the 4th edition of the prize was Alex Kadiri in “The Anatomy of Flying Things”. The works of these winning authors and all the longlisted writers can be found in Afritondo’s yearly anthologies.

The 2024 anthology is expected in August 2024.