Who is on the 2023 Longlist?

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu is an award-winning Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist. His work interrogates themes of queer identity, resistance and liberation, and has been shortlisted for the 2020 ALCS TOM-Gallon Trust Award and the 2022 Toyin Falola Prize. He won the 2021 James Currey Prize for African Literature for his debut novel, And Then He Sang a Lullaby, which will be published by Roxane Gay Books in June 2023.

Lubwama Joshua | Uganda

That Over Which They’d Dispute

Lubwama Joshua is a writer from Kampala, Uganda. He is the editor-in-chief of inverbally, an African digital literary magazine, and a co-founder at Rhivaly Media, a media and entertainment start-up.

Uchechi Princewill | Nigeria

Elevator Johnson

Uchechi Princewill is a fiction writer and medical student at the University of Benin, Nigeria. His writing explores the motions of living beings, real and fantastical. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Bombay Literary Magazine, Litro Magazine, The Story Tree Challenge Maiden Anthology, and Pikes Peak Writers Dream Anthology. He is also a regional winner of the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Council Poetry Competition. He can be found in most spaces @bryanwhoiam.

Jenny Robson | South Africa & Botswana

The Sister-in-law

Jenny Robson was born in South Africa, but has lived in her beloved Botswana since the age of 22. She works as a music teacher in Maun, writing in her spare time. Most of her stories have been for children and young adults. One of them was awarded the international UNESCO Prize for Youth Literature in the Service of Tolerance. 

These days, Jenny is focused on writing for adults. She finds this far more challenging and intimidating. In 2021 one of her adult stories was awarded the Kendeka Prize for African Literature. This has motivated her to keep on trying.

TAFADZWA Z. TARUVINGA | ZIMBABWE

Small Housing

A versatile fiction and nonfiction writer, Tafadzwa has authored The Educated Waiter: Memoir of an African Immigrant—a powerful recollection of his quest to find a better life in South Africa, Germany, the UAE and Zimbabwe. Witty and poignant, this story confronts poverty, racism, xenophobia and classism.

In 2021, Tafadzwa was awarded a scholarship by the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand to study for an MA in Creative Writing and is completing his first novel set in urban and rural Zimbabwe. He is also the founder of a writing agency based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His research interest is in development economics with a focus on issues affecting and stemming from the movement of African migrants.

Tafadzwa can be reached on all social media platforms @tztaruvinga

Igbẹkẹle Salawu | Nigeria

The Alien Natives

Igbẹkẹle’s works have been published in literary magazines. In 2015, one of his published works was nominated for a Pushcart prize. In 2018, as an intern editor at the Oxford University Press, he participated in an extensive translation project aimed towards the development of a Yorùbá dictionary. He was a Fulbright scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between 2021 and 2022, after completing a graduate programme at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. He is now studying fiction at Florida State University.

Enit'ayanfe Ayosojumi Akinsanya | Nigeria

The Anatomy Of Flying Things

Enit'ayanfe Ayosojumi Akinsanya is a Nigerian writer. He grew up in Sagamu. He is the recipient of the 2022 Itanile Africa/Diaspora Fiction Prize and the 2022 International Arts Lounge CNF First-Position Award. He was a finalist at the 2018 National GTB Dusty Manuscript Novel Contest and a fellow at the 2018 Farafina/Okadabooks Bootcamp. He is the author of a short story collection, “How to Catch a Story That Doesn’t Exist”, which weaves through the lives of queer Nigerians. The collection was published by IfeÁdigo in 2022. His other works have appeared in Kalahari Review, Brittle Paper, Isele Magazine, The Shallow Tales Review, Eunoia Review, Afrocritik, Fiery Scribe Review, Livina Press, Africa Writer, OBBLT, Writers Space Africa, CÓN-SCÌÒ and several other platforms. He is currently observing life and building lives in the southwest of Nigeria.

Fayssal Bensalah | Algeria

Citizen Sarah

Fayssal is a twenty-eight-year-old Algerian author who writes in English. He was born and raised in Algeria. He was educated at Constantine 1 University (C1U) and graduated with an MA degree in Anglophone Literature. He is currently finishing his PhD in critical and creative writing at Cardiff University, UK, where he also worked as a creative writing tutor. He is the winner of the inaugural 2020 Toyin Falola Prize. He co-judged the 2022 Toyin Falola Prize with Booker-Prize-nominated author Karen Jennings.

Moses Abukutsa | Kenya

Secret Stories of Koyogela Street

Abukutsa Moses writes poetry and fiction. He was shortlisted for the 2017 NALIF (Nyanza Literary Festival) literary prize for his short story Abraham’s Cremation and recently longlisted for the 2022 Afritondo short story prize. Abukutsa Moses is also the winner of the 2022 Kikwetu Literary journal’s flash fiction contest with his story Nalongo. He is also a member of WSA (Writers Space Africa)—Kenya chapter. He has published short stories and poetry online with Kalahari review, Praxis, African Writer, Kikwetu, Afritondo, Storymoja and khusoko.com an East African Online Business platform. Abukutsa is a high school teacher of English and Literature who likes reading and playing tennis during his free time. He lives in Western Kenya.