The shortlist has been announced for the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. The links here take you to the stories so you can read them now and join in the conversation (see Aaron Bady's intro and links or search #caineprize on Twitter).

Elnathan John (Nigeria) Bayan Layi from Per Contra, Issue 25 (USA, 2012)

Tope Folarin (Nigeria) Miracle from Transition, Issue 109 (Bloomington, 2012)

Pede Hollist (Sierra Leone) Foreign Aid from Journal of Progressive Human Services, Vol. 23.3 (Philadelphia, 2012)

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria) The Whispering Trees from The Whispering Trees, published by Parrésia Publishers (Lagos, 2012)

Chinelo Okparanta (Nigeria) America from Granta, Issue 118 (London, 2012)

It’s been the usual fast turnaround to put the book together since the announcement of the shortlist on 15 May. The print edition will be available soon at the New Internationalist shop. It also contains 12 stories created at the Caine Prize Writers Workshop, held this year in Uganda, including one by last year’s winner, Rotimi Babatunde and another story from Elnathan John (the title of which leads the collection). No sneak previews of these stories unfortunately – you’ll just have to get yourself a copy of the book!