We are happy to announce the shortlist for the inaugural Afritondo Short Story Prize. The five stories have been selected from a longlist of 21 stories by Megan Ross, Kelechi Njoku and Gloria Mwaniga.

The Chair of the judges, Megan Ross, had this to say about the shortlist and the selection process:

“It was such a privilege to read the longlist. So, thank you to those writers for entering their stories. Every story was competing against incredibly high standards. Every story was a pleasure to read, and getting to the shortlist was a very difficult job.

“We were constantly impressed by the talent and the voices and the energy that was coming through the stories. It’s going to be an even more difficult task trying to find a winner now.”

The shortlisted stories for the 2020 Afritondo Short Story Prize are:

GOOD HELP IS HARD TO FIND BY JARRED THOMPSON (SOUTH AFRICA)

Good Help is Hard to Find is about Pamela—a domestic worker who works in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa. The story describes the everyday pressures of Pamela’s working-class life, while exploring her fluctuating relationship with Mrs. Carien Devilliers—her employer. Through Pamela’s point of view, the story details the contrasting lifestyles of both employer and domestic worker, as Pamela witnesses Mrs. Devilliers’ mental state slowly deteriorate as a result of a secret she is keeping from her husband.

Bio

Jarred Thompson is a queer, coloured writer, researcher and academic. He has published poetry, fiction and non-fiction in multiple publications, including the forthcoming in Living While Feminist Anthology, to be published in 2020 by Kwela Books and compiled by Jennifer Thorpe.

2. SLICK DOG DIARY OF A NINJA BY PHILANI A NYONI (ZIMBABWE)

The art of being Slick Dog is simple: dealing and smoking 'colitas', managing a budding drug-empire, and of course dealing and smoking colitas. After an evening of debauchery our friend wakes up next to a girl he strongly suspects to be underage but somehow begins the process of falling in love with her.

Bio

Philani A Nyoni was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe sometime in the last century. He has authored five books of poetry: "Once A Lover Always A Fool" (2012), "Hewn From Rock" (2014) with John Eppel, "Mars His Sword" (2016), 'Philtrum' (2017) and “Ett Kräs bön” (2019) a Swedish translation.

3. TOUCH ME NOT BY DAVINA PHILOMENA KAWUMA (UGANDA)

“She” is suicidal, but the society in which She lives doesn’t permit She to have as much control over She’s body as to kill it. “He” is a soldier with whom She has what She assumes to be “an emotional connection.” (They met online, and have been in touch for three years but have never met). Because he is trained in, and owns, the means of violence, he is permitted to kill. So She asks him to kill her. And he says, no problem, of course he will (because giving someone what they want is one way of showing that you love them, not so?).

Bio

Davina has received advanced training in both the arts and sciences and therefore considers herself a “scieartist” (“a committed lover of both the sciences and the arts”). She has a Bachelor of Science degree (Botany and Zoology) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (Biological Sciences). She has received training in fiction writing from workshops and mentorships run by the African Writers Trust, the British Council, the Caine Prize, Storymoja, the Uganda Women Writers Association, and the Dutch, Swedish, and American embassies in Uganda. Her articles, children’s and adult fiction, and poetry are all born out of daily observations of life and have appeared in anthologies published by the African Woman Magazine, African Writers Trust, Ake Review, Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, Brittle Paper, Lawino Magazine, New Internationalist, and Uganda Women Writers Association. Her short story, “Of Birds and Bees” was short-listed for the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize.

4. [UNKNOWN] AND WIFE BY KOJO OBENG-ADOH (GHANA)

[Unknown] and Wife is a story about love’s tragic yet amusing futility, its (weak) grip on the lives of the people who find themselves prey to it, and what it means to be with another person.

Kojo Obeng-Andoh by Kojo Obeng-Andoh .JPG

bio

Kojo Obeng-Andoh is in Accra, which is in Ghana. He is a queer (artist). He is (making, or thinking about making) art. You can follow him on Instagram @kojoobengandoh.

5. Yellow Means Stay by Hannah Onoguwe (Nigeria)

Ebi Inuma isn’t the most the religious of men, but he’s done pretty well, considering. So when he finds himself in the afterlife with apparently no real destination, someone had better provide answers! Enter Jibike. Meeting her in all her witty, curvy glory almost makes him forget he has questions. She informs him that he is in a state of transition, a “golden opportunity not many are given.” Ebi soon discovers that his first son isn’t really his, and in his anger can’t wait to go back to Yenagoa and confront his wife, Tamarapere, with her twenty-eight-year-old lie. And maybe put his hands around her throat right after. On the other hand is Jibike, with her softness and smarts and what she does to his insides. Ebi finds that his burning desire for revenge wars with his burning need to build a forever with Jibike. Nothing is guaranteed: not in life, not in love. He has to decide if vengeance is more important than the possibility of never seeing Jibike again.

bio

Hannah Onoguwe’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Adanna, BLACKBERRY: a magazine, Imagine Africa 500 and online in Litro, The Missing Slate, African Writer, The Kalahari Review, Lawino, AFREADA, The Stockholm Review, Brittle Paper, Persistent Visions, The Drum Lit Mag, Eleven Eleven, Omenana and Timeworn Lit Mag. Her collection of short romantic stories, Wine and Water, is published by Bahati Books and available on Amazon and the Okadabooks app. Also on Okadabooks is Sister Dear and Adesuwa’s Dilemma. She lives in Yenagoa with family. There she reads, writes, is eternally distracted by the Internet and often—miraculously!— finds time to bake. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @HannahOnoguwe.