Olufemi Terry wins the 2010 Caine Prize

So I must say that this one went by without my notice and had it not been The Bookaholic Blog I would not have heard it and talked about it. Thanks Bookaholic. I first blogged about the Prize here...

Sierra Leone's Olufemi Terry has won the 2010 Caine Prize for African Writing for 'Stickfighting Days' from Chimurenga vol 12/13. This Prize has been described as Africa's leading literary award. The Chair of Judges, The Economist's Literary Editor Fiammetta Rocco, announced Olufemi as the winner of the 10,000 pound prize at a dinner held on Monday July 5 at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. 

Fimmetta Rocco said "ambitious, brave and hugely imaginative, Olufemi Terry's 'Stickfighting Days' presents a heroid culture that is Homeric in its scale and conception. The execution of this story is so tight and the presentation so cinematic, it confirms Olufemi Terry as a talent with an enormous future"

Olufemi was born in Sierra Leon of African and Antillean parentage. He grew up in Nigeria, the U.K., and Cote d'Ivoire before attending university in New York. Subsequently, Olufemi lived in Kenya and worked as a journalist and analyst in Somalia and Uganda. He lives in Cape Town where he is writing his first novel. His writing has appeared in Chimurenga, New Contrast and The Caine Prize for African Writing's Eight Annual Collection.

Also shortlisted were:

• Ken Barris (South Africa) 'The Life of Worm' from New Writing from Africa 2009, published by Johnson & King James Books, Cape Town
• Lily Mabura (Kenya) 'How Shall We Kill the Bishop?' from Wasafari No 53, Spring 2008
• Namwali Serpell (Zambia) 'Muzungu' from The Best American Short Stories 2009, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston MA
• Alex Smith (South Africa) 'Soulmates' from New Writing from Africa 2009 (As Above)

Read the full press release here....