NoViolet Bulawayo honoured with “Best of Caine” as prize marks 25 years of spotlighting African voices
NoViolet Bulawayo has been named the recipient of the Caine Prize’s special Best of Caine award, an honorary prize created to mark the 25th anniversary of the prize that has long served as a launchpad for African short fiction. The recognition revives attention on the short story that first brought her wide notice — the six-children caper that captivated judges with its language and daring narrative — and, more broadly, on how a small prize has reshaped the global literary map.
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The story behind the story
The piece that earned Bulawayo the prize in 2011 follows a band of children who slip out of their township to a nearby, better-off district nicknamed “Budapest” to steal guavas. The deceptively simple premise, told through the restless, unsentimental eyes of a child, blossoms into a portrait of hunger and resourcefulness, community and petty theft, of the everyday negotiations that mark life on the margins.
Judges praised the entry for its “powerful language, distinctive tone of voice, and bold and compelling storytelling.” Those qualities — the quiet ferocity of a young narrator, the vivid local details, the shock of encountering adult cruelties through children’s games — are hallmarks of Bulawayo’s work and a reminder of why short fiction can move readers and editors with equal force.
From a guava tree to global readership
For Bulawayo, the Caine Prize was not an endpoint but a hinge. Shortlisted and awarded, then carried forward by international publishers and reviewers, the story helped lift her into a wider conversation about African literature in the 2010s. It’s a familiar trajectory for many authors who have passed through the Caine Prize circle: a small, carefully chosen story wins notice, and publishers and festivals reach out, eager for more.
That momentum matters in a global marketplace where attention is scarce and gatekeepers are many. Short story prizes can open doors not only to book deals but to translations, festival invitations and teaching posts. For readers outside the countries where these stories are set, prize publicity offers an introduction — sometimes the first — to voices that challenge stereotypes and complicate easy tales about “Africa.”
Why the Caine Prize endures — and sparks debate
Celebrating a quarter-century, the Caine Prize has become synonymous with talent discovery in African writing. Founded in 2000, it was conceived as a way to raise the profile of short fiction from the continent and to create networks of editors, agents and publishers who might otherwise not encounter those writers. Over the years it has played that role with notable success, championing storytelling traditions that range from the rural to the urbane, from magical realism to hyper-real reportage.
But with success has come scrutiny. Literary prizes inevitably raise questions: Who decides what counts as “African” writing? Which stories win, and which are overlooked? Do prizes privilege particular aesthetics — certain kinds of suffering rendered in polished prose — that fit international tastes? These are not merely theoretical queries. They shape careers and the kinds of narratives that reach global bookshelves.
The Caine Prize has navigated these tensions by expanding programming — workshops, mentoring and residencies — intended to develop writers beyond a single sensational story. The Best of Caine accolade is itself a recognition of that cumulative influence: not just of one winner, but of a quarter-century of choices that have amplified diverse voices.
Small stories, big questions
What is striking about Bulawayo’s story is how it uses small, sensory scenes — the stickiness of guava flesh, the thrill of trespass, the quick calculations of children — to address larger social fractures. The narrative’s specificity is what gives it universal reach. Readers in Lagos, London or Los Angeles can recognize the texture of childhood and the ways poverty rearranges play and aspiration.
In a publishing era that prizes novelty but starves for authenticity, works like Bulawayo’s remind us why short fiction still matters: it is a laboratory for voice, a compressed space where risk is possible and language is sharpened. For editors and readers hungry for fresh perspectives, the short story has often supplied the most direct route to new writers and new ways of seeing.
Looking forward
As the Caine Prize marks 25 years, the literary world might pause to ask how prize ecosystems can continue to evolve. How can awards balance the thrill of discovery with long-term support? How can they ensure equitable access for writers who may not have agents or stable internet? And how can they resist turning African literature into a single, marketable brand?
NoViolet Bulawayo’s Best of Caine prize is both celebration and reminder. It celebrates a distinctive voice and a story that still resonates; it reminds us that literature’s power is cumulative, built on small brilliant acts of attention — a child on a guava heist, a judge who recognizes a new voice, a prize that amplifies it.
In the end, readers are the beneficiaries. The questions this award poses — about curation, representation and support for writers — ask us to consider how we read and what stories we choose to carry forward. If a short story about stealing guavas can travel across oceans and languages to claim a place in the global imagination, what other quiet acts of storytelling might we have missed?
By News-room
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
