The Obituary Tango and other short stories Caine Prize for African Writing 6th annual collection

The Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa’s leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. Each year the winning story and shortlisted entries are collected and published in one volume. This year’s winner is Segun Afolabi for The Obituary Tango.

The Caine Prize showcases the best talent in African writing. Previous winners include Leila Aboulela, whose second novel was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2006 and Helon Habila, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2007.

From The Obituary Tango, by Jamal Mahjoub “We played by their rules, El Haj said. That was our mistake. Back when we had a chance to change things we played by their rules. We wanted what they had. We wanted Regents Street and Piccadilly Circus. We wanted Oxford and Cambridge. We wanted Westminster. Instead of thinking for ourselves. Nowadays, he said, no-one even remembers there was such a thing as a colonial period. The English today are tired of hearing what their forefathers did and besides, they say, look what happens when you are left to your own devices.”

The other shortlisted authors are: Doreen Baingana of Uganda for Tropical Fish, Jamal Mahjoub of Sudan for The Obituary Tango (the story that gives this year’s collection its title), Muthal Naidoo of South Africa for Jail Birds and Ike Okonta of Nigeria for Tindi in the Land of the Dead.