Rotimi Babatunde | |
|---|---|
 Babatunde (2013) Photo by Slowking | |
| Citizenship | Nigerian |
| Notable awards | 2012 Caine Prize |
Rotimi Babatunde is a Nigerian writer and playwright.
Rotimi Babatunde | |
|---|---|
| Babatunde (2013) Photo by Slowking | |
| Citizenship | Nigerian |
| Notable awards | 2012 Caine Prize |
Rotimi Babatunde is a Nigerian writer and playwright.
Rotimi Babatunde was born in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria, where he attended St. Joseph's Nursery and Primary School before going on to secondary education at the Federal Government College, Odogbolu, and subsequently to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. [1]
His published work includes poems and stories in anthologies, including Little Drops, A Volcano of Voices and Die Aussenseite des Elementes. [2] [3] Babatunde's plays have been presented at institutions such as London's Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Swedish National Touring Theatre and the Halcyon Theatre, Chicago, [4] as well as being broadcast on the BBC World Service. His other works includes:
Babatunde won the Meridian Tragic Love Story Competition (hosted and organized by the BBC World Service). He is also a winner of the AWF Cyprian Ekwensi Prize for Short Stories. [6]
His next work is a novel on choice, migration and love. [7] [8] His short story "The Collected Tricks of Houdini" was longlisted for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the richest prize in the world for a single short story. [9] [10]
In 2012, Babatunde won the Caine Prize for African Writing for "Bombay’s Republic", a short story about a Nigerian soldier who is enlisted to fight as an allied soldier in Burma during the Second World War. Chosen from five shortlisted options, the story was described by chair judge Bernardine Evaristo as
...ambitious, darkly humorous and in soaring, scorching prose exposes the exploitative nature of the colonial project and the psychology of independence. [11]
In April 2014 Babatunde was named in the Hay Festival's Africa39 project as one of the 39 Sub-Saharan African writers under the age of 40 with the potential and the talent to define the trends of the region. [12]
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2000, the £10,000 prize was named in memory of businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Harris Caine, former Chairman of Booker Group and of the Booker Prize management committee. The Caine Prize is sometimes called the "African Booker". The Chair of the Board is Ellah Wakatama, appointed in 2019.
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Chika Nina Unigwe is a Nigerian-born Igbo author who writes in English and Dutch. In April 2014, she was selected for the Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature. Previously based in Belgium, she now lives in the United States.
Monica Arac de Nyeko is a Ugandan writer of short fiction, poetry, and essays, living in Nairobi. In 2007 she became the first Ugandan to win the Caine Prize for African Writing, with her story "Jambula Tree". She had previously been shortlisted for the prize in 2004 for "Strange Fruit", a story about child soldiers in Gulu, Northern Uganda. She is a member of FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers Association and the chief editor of T:AP Voices. She taught literature and English at St. Mary's College Kisubi before proceeding to pursue a Master in Humanitarian Assistance at the University of Groningen. Her personal essay "In the Stars" won first prize in the Women's World, Women in War Zones essay writing competition. She has been published in Memories of Sun, The Nation, IS magazine, Poetry International and several other publications. She is one of the writers announced as part of the Africa39 project unveiled by Rainbow, Hay Festival and Bloomsbury Publishing at the London Book Fair 2014. It is a list of 39 of Sub-Saharan Africa's most promising writers under the age of 40.
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Zukiswa Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary Awards (SALA) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. In 2015, she won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg (2014). In 2014, Wanner was named on the Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature.
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