Afritondo Short Story Prize 2023 longlist announced.

The longlist of fifteen writers in the running for the Afritondo Short Story Prize 2023 was announced on Saturday, February 11, 2023.

Afritondo, a platform that aims to connect with and tell the stories of African and black minority populations across the globe, is the organisation behind the Afritondo Short Story Prize. Previous winners have been Howard Meh-Buh Maximus, Jarred Thompson, and Desta Haile.

The judging panel for the award for 2023 is Ugandan author Doreen Baingana, Ghanaian author Ayesha Harruna Attah, and Zambian-Ghanaian writer and editor Efemia Chela.

The longlist was announced on Friday with the Confidence Uwazuruike, co-editor of Afritondo saying, “This is the fourth year of the Afritondo Short Story Prize, and we are extremely pleased with the quality of entries that the prize has always attracted. We received so many entries but could only longlist 15 stories. So to those who didn’t make it to the longlist this time: keep writing, keep trying, your craft is amazing.”

Those on the longlist are;

• Jenny Robson, The Sister-in-law (South Africa/Botswana)
• Ani Kayode Somtochukwu, Grey Is a Colour That Never Stains (Nigeria)
• Anonymous, The Colosseum (United States)
• Igbẹkẹle Salawu, The Alien Natives (Nigeria)
• Moses Abukutsa, Secret Stories of Koyogela Street (Kenya)
• Desta Haile, The Headhunter (United Kingdom)
• C. M. Okonkwo, I’m Taking it to the Grave (Nigeria)
• Charles Muhumuza, Once Boys and Girls of the Stream (Uganda)
• Fayssal Bensalah, Citizen Sarah (Algeria)
• Ayo Awoyungbo, The Man from Abeokuta (United Kingdom)
• Uchechi Princewill Akachi, Elevator Johnson (Nigeria)
• Enit’ayanfe Ayosojumi Akinsanya, The Anatomy of Flying Things (Nigeria)
• Lubwama Joshua, That Over Which They’d Dispute (Uganda)
• TZ Taruvinga, Small housing (Zimbabwe)
• Alex Kadiri, The Hyena and The Two-Headed Goat (Nigeria)

The winner goes home with the US$1,000 prize money. An anthology of the longlist is expected later in the year. The judges will meet in the coming weeks to decide on a shortlist and a winner.