We are proud to announce the long list for the 2015 Short Story Day Africa Prize.
In March we sent out a call for stories around the theme of Water. We received 456 entries from all over the continent and the diaspora, 352 entries up from 2014.
As the judging is blind, we can announce only the names of the long listed authors.
Congratulations to:
Alex Latimer (South Africa)
Donald Molosi (Botswana)
Wairimu Muriithi (Kenya)
Christine Coates (South Africa)
Mark Mngomezulu (Swaziland)
Cat Hellisen (South Africa)
Louis Ogbere (Nigeria)
Efemia Chela (Ghana/Zambia)
Louis Greenberg (South Africa)
Chido Muchemwa (Zimbabwe)
Wesley Macheso (Malawi)
Siyanda Mohutsiwa (Botswana)
Alexis Teyie (Kenya)
Mary Okon Ononokpono (Nigeria/UK)
Dayo Ntwari (Rwanda)
Thabo Jijana (South Africa)
Pede Hollist (Sierra Leone)
Fred Khumalo (South Africa)
Megan Ross (South Africa)
Florence Onyango (Kenya)
Mark Winkler (South Africa)
Their stories explored the theme in interesting and unexpected ways, and both the readers and the SSDA team and editors felt the collection to be exceptional in scope and skill.
The stories will now be sent to the judging panel: Mary Watson, Billy Kahora and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim.
We hope to announce the shortlist sometime in October, with the winners announced at the Ake Festival in Nigeria in November. Prizes are sponsored by Worldreader, Books Live, ANT ProHelvetia and All About Writing.
Both Short Story Day Africa's previous anthologies have received critical acclaim, with two stories from Feast, Famine & Potluck shortlisted for The Caine Prize, with one going on to win the prize, and Terra Incognita receiving an excellent review in the L.A. Review of Books. Karina Magdalena Szczurek and Nick Mulgrew will co-edit Water.
Water is co-published by Hands On Books in Southern Africa, Cassava Republic is West Africa, and New Internationalist in the UK, USA and Europe.
Many thanks to the volunteer readers who took the time to help us sift through the slush pile. We could not have done it without them. To you, dear readers, we are forever grateful: Mandy Thomas, George Okeke, Mack Lundy, Andrew Peter Rex Salomon, Gail Schimmel, Isla Haddow Flood, Rahla Xenopoulous, Dave De Burgh, Bontle Senne, Kyle Aiden Cowan, Sima Mittal, Sheryl Kavin, Margot Bertelsmann Doherty , Nick Wood, Iain Thomas, Kelly Tarmwa, Kerry Hammerton, Tolu Awobusuyi , Louise Umutoni, Sumayya Lee, Mary Ajayi, Ayodeji Balogun , John Schaidler, Ester Levinrad, Drew Carlton, Samantha Costanzo, Sharleen Van Zweel, Laura M Kaminski, Crystal Warren, Anesu Chigariro, Ayesha Kadjee, Julia Bracker. Karina Magdalena Szczurek.