29-year-old Kenyan writer Idza Luhumyo has bagged the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing with her short story “Five Years Next Sunday.’
Idza was praised at the ceremony held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Monday, July 18 with judges saying she ‘represented a staggering feat’.
“It was enchantment galore, a testament to the vibrancy, variety, and splendour of creative talent among writers of African descent,” said Okey Ndibe who chaired the judging panel.
“It’s a credit to the judges’ dedication that we have a shortlist that runs the gamut stylistically and thematically,” Ndibe added.
According to Citizen Digital, Idza story which was published in the book Disruption, talls of a young woman who has been growing her locs for nearly five years and has become known as “woman celler’ – one who calls the rain.
Ndibe defined Idza story’s as “an ostracized girl who ‘holds the fate of her community in her hair”.
Idza was shortlisted among other writers including Joshua Chizoma (Nigeria) for “Collector of Memories,” Nana-Ama Danquah (Ghana) for “When a Man Loves a Woman,” Hannah Giorgis (Ethiopia) for “A Double-Edged Inheritance,” and Billie McTernan (Ghana) for “The Labadi Sunshine Bar.”
This year’s prize had 267 entries. The award is awarded to an African writer who publishes in English.
Idza is the fifth Kenyan to bring the award home after the late Binyavanga Wainaina, who bagged the prize in 2002, Yvonne Owuor (2003), Okwiri Oduor (2014) and Makena Onjerika (2018).
For her short story, Idza will be awarded a cash prize of Ksh 1, 417, 484 which translates to 10,000 pounds.
Idza’s “Five Years Next Sunday” was also the winner of the 2019/20 Short Story Day Africa Prize and was published in the Johannesburg Review of Books.