The Caine Prize for African Writing has convened its 19th annual Writers’ Workshop in Stone Town, Zanzibar, to honour the 2025 Chair of Judges and Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, according to afrocritik.com.
Ten writers representing nine African countries participated in the 14-day residency from April 11–24, focusing on the development of new short stories for international publication.
The workshop was led by facilitators Otieno Owino, a Kenyan editor, and Lesley Nneka Arimah, the 2019 Caine Prize winner. The participating authors included previous winners Makena Onjerika (Kenya) and Mame Bougouma Diene (Senegal), alongside writers from Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
•ParticipantsDuring the residency, participants engaged in technical craft sessions and refined manuscripts intended for the 2026 Caine Prize Anthology. The programme also featured community outreach, with authors visiting Hamamni Secondary School in Stone Town to mentor students on reading and creative writing.
On April 23, the Prize hosted a public reading at the Emerson Spice Hotel in collaboration with the Zanzibar Renaissance Literary Society. The event allowed the writers to debut excerpts from their current work to an audience of Tanzanian literary and cultural figures. Facilitator Lesley Nneka Arimah noted that for several participants, the event marked their first professional public reading.
Interim Director Susi Owusu confirmed that the stories produced during the workshop will be published in the annual anthology this autumn. The 2026 residency was supported by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the Hawthornden Foundation.
The Caine Prize, named after former Booker Prize chairman Sir Michael Caine, is widely regarded as Africa’s leading literary award for short fiction. The workshop serves as a critical incubator for contemporary African voices, providing established and emerging writers with the editorial support and visibility required to reach a global market.
