Five Nigerians make 2016 SSDA Prize longlist

Five Nigerian writers have been included in the 2016 Short Story Day Africa (SSDA) Prize long list with the theme, Migrations. They include, Edwin Okolo, Mary Ononokpono, Okafor Tochukwu, TJ Benson, and Umar Turaki.

Other writers on the 21-man long list include, Aba Asibon (Ghana), Anne Moraa (Kenya), Arja Salafranca (South Africa), Blaize Kaye (South Africa), Francis Aubee (The Gambia), Fred Khumalo (South Africa), Gamu Chamisa (Zimbabwe), Gratitude Fisher (South Africa), Idza L (Kenya), and Karen Jennings (South Africa).

Others are: Lauri Kubuitsile (Botswana), Mirette Bahgat Eskaros (Egypt), Mignotte Mekuria (Ethiopia), Megan Ross (South Africa), Nyarsipi Odeph (Kenya), and Stacy Hardy (South Africa)

The selections were made during two rounds of blind reading. The first was by volunteers across Africa and the second by members of the SSDA team, Nick Mulgrew, Karina Szczurek and Rachel Zadok, one of the Migrations editors, Efemia Chela, and the 2015 winner, Cat Hellisen.

Judges had a difficult time with the selection and finally resolved to give eight writers special mentions, of which one, Edwin Okolo, is a Nigerian.

SSDA Prize is aimed at fostering the love of reading and writing African fiction. It is sponsored by the Goethe Institute, Books Live and several other creative platforms