Great African Reads discussion

Does anyone want to read these together and do a poll on which we want to see win? The winner will be announced July 14.

All links and info from Caine Prize web site.

Diane Awerbuck (South Africa)
Phosphorence

"Diane Awerbuck is the author of Gardening at Night (2003), which was awarded the Commonwealth Best First Book Award (Africa and the Caribbean) and was shortlisted for the International Dublin IMPAC Award.

Her work has been published internationally and translated into a number of languages. Awerbuck develops educational materials, reviews fiction for the South African Sunday Times, and writes for Mail&Guardian’s Thoughtleader. Awerbuck’s collection of short stories, Cabin Fever, was published in 2011. Her most recent full-length work, Home Remedies, was published in 2012. Her doctoral work and non-fiction deal with trauma, narrative and the public sphere."

Efemia Chela (Ghana/Zambia)
Chicken

"Efemia Chela was born in Chikankata, Zambia in 1991, but grew up in England, Ghana, Botswana and South Africa. She graduated with a BA in French, Politics and Classical Civilisations from Rhodes University. She completed part of her Politics Honours at Institut D'Etudes Politiques in Aix-En-Provence, France.

When she grows up she would like to be a midwife of great literature, a better writer, a translator, subtitler and graphic novelist.

She is married to a film camera. They go everywhere together and have many square children. She gets her thrills from remotely attending international fashion weeks, artistic intertextuality, old black and white movies and tasting new cuisines.

Efemia lives in Cape Town and is currently unemployed which allows her to focus on her writing. “Chicken” was her first published story and it won third place in the Short Story Day Africa 2013 competition, “Feast, Famine and Potluck”. "

Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwe)
The Intervention

"Tendai Huchu is the author of The Hairdresser of Harare. His short fiction and nonfiction has appeared in Warscapes, Wasafiri, The Africa Report, The Zimbabwean, The Open Road Review, Kwani?05, A View from Here and numerous other publications. In 2013 he received a Hawthornden Fellowship and a Sacatar Fellowship. His next novel will be The Maestro, The Magistrate, & The Mathematician."

Billy Kahora (Kenya)
The Gorilla's Apprentice

"Billy Kahora is the managing editor of the Kenyan literary journal Kwani? and the author of The True Story of David Munyakei (2009). His writing has appeared in Granta, Kwani?, Chimurenga and Vanity Fair. His short story ‘Urban Zoning’ was shortlisted in 2012 for the Caine Prize and in 2007 'Treadmill Love', was highly commended by the Caine Prize judges. He is working on a novel titled, The Applications and is writing a book on Juba."

Okwiri Oduor (Kenya)
My Father's Head

"Okwiri Oduor was born in Nairobi. She is a 2014 MacDowell Colony fellow. She is currently at work on her debut novel."

Thanks Marieke for doing this. I will read them, but not sure when

Nina wrote: "Thanks Marieke for doing this. I will read them, but not sure when"

I forgot to check the announcement date! I will edit the post above when I find it.

i will probably spread out my reading, but i would like to read them all before the winner is announced. I think i have yet to succeed at doing that.

Okay: July 14 is the "deadline." i will set up a poll at the beginning of July for members to vote for their favorite story.

I too think it would be nice to read them all

Sheila wrote: "I too think it would be nice to read them all"

excellent! i might try to come up with a schedule for myself that i will share here if anyone else is interested in similarly scheduling reading the stories.

in the meantime, i found this this very nice post about the nominees.

Marieke wrote: "Nina wrote: "Thanks Marieke for doing this. I will read them, but not sure when"

I forgot to check the announcement date! I will edit the post above when I find it.

i will probably spread out my..."

Thanks for sharing these. Like you it seems I never get around to reading them all (especially before the finalist is chosen). But I will try to do better this year!

Marieke wrote: ... i will probably spread out my reading, but i would like to read them all before the winner is announced. I think i have yet to succeed at doing that..."

Whoa, what a goal!! :D How you're going with it?

Muphyn wrote: "Marieke wrote: ... i will probably spread out my reading, but i would like to read them all before the winner is announced. I think i have yet to succeed at doing that..."

Whoa, what a goal!! :D H..."

Lol. I haven't started..... ;)

Ah well, you've still got some time up your sleeve... ;D

Muphyn wrote: "Ah well, you've still got some time up your sleeve... ;D"

lol...my track record with the passage of time is soooo bad. lolll

Haha, yeah, mine is heaps better! ;D