The five stories on the Caine Prize for African Writing shortlist distinguished themselves through their originality and the force of their storytelling, with the works ranging from poignant and moving to shocking and quirky.
By Joseph Jonathan
The Caine Prize for African Writing has announced the five shortlisted stories for its 2026 edition, selecting works by writers from Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt, and Zimbabwe from a pool of more than 400 submissions. The winner will receive £10,000 at a ceremony in London this October, before being celebrated with the Prize in their country of origin. All five shortlisted stories will appear in the annual Caine Prize Anthology, alongside work developed at this year’s Caine Prize Workshop, held in Tanzania.
The shortlist includes Gladwell Pamba’s “The Last Shop” (Kenya), published by Jahazi Press; Melara Mvogdobo’s “Dieu Merci” (Cameroon), published by Literatur.Review; Akinwande Jordan’s “So Long Now It’s Starting To Look Like Eternity” (Nigeria), published in the anthology A House That’s Not A Home; Yasmine Zohdi’s “The Absence of Stains” (Egypt), published by The Republic; and Simbarashe Kundizeza’s “The Blue Fighter” (Zimbabwe), published by The Shallow Tales Review.
The shortlisted stories span different literary traditions and settings, with the selected writers bringing varied perspectives from across the continent and its diaspora. According to Bola Mosuro, Chair of the 2026 judging panel, the five stories distinguished themselves through their originality and the force of their storytelling, with the works ranging from poignant and moving to shocking and quirky.
The stories have also received praise from their publishers, who highlighted their distinctive approaches to subjects ranging from contemporary relationships and psychological realism to cultural identity and the experiences of communities across Africa.
The selected writers represent a diverse range of literary backgrounds. Gladwell Pamba is a Kenyan writer and PhD student at Concordia University in Canada, while Melara Mvogdobo is a Cameroonian-Swiss novelist whose second novel, Grandmothers, was nominated for the 2025 Swiss Book Prize. Nigerian finalist Akinwande Jordan is a writer, critic, and editor whose work spans cinema, literature, culture, and politics. Yasmine Zohdi is an Egyptian writer, translator, and film critic based in Cairo, while Simbarashe Kundizeza is a Zimbabwean writer and the 2024 winner of the Island Prize for Debut African Fiction.
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award established to promote African writing and bring the work of African writers to wider audiences. The prize selects one winning story each year from across Africa and its diaspora.