On Friday, April 7, in an online ceremony, Alex Kadiri was announced as the winner of the 2023 Afritondo Short Story Prize. His entry, The Hyena and the Two-Headed Goat was picked out of a shortlist of five. The judges describe it as “mesmerizing”, a story about a community’s pain and love” and “the forces of good and evil clashing.” He will receive a cash prize of $1000 and publication in a forthcoming anthology that will feature his story alongside the entries of this year’s longlisted writers. The entries, the judges remark, are “journeys” that are “wild, tender, surreal, and heartbreaking; all of them unpacking the varied meanings, joys, pain, and power of being ‘Alien.’ Whether as outsiders in a new place or strangers at home, these stories sensitively explored relationships, community, and identity in remarkably fresh ways. A confirmation, yet again, that the African short story is alive and kicking!” This year’s prize was judged by Ugandan writer, Doreen Baigana, South African based-editor, Efemia Chela, and Ayesha-Harruna Attah.
Alex Kadiri’s shorts have appeared in Afreada, Problem House Press, ShortSharpShot, Whipik, and WordsAreWork. In 2016, he teamed up with a visual artist to win the iWriteArt contest. Later that year, he got an honourable mention from Problem House Press for his short story, When You’re Mad.
In 2017, his nonfiction piece, A Thing That Once Was, was longlisted for the Koffi Addo Prize for nonfiction. In 2020, his flash fiction, Who Will Know?, was shortlisted for the STNOC Prize. He has stories in anthologies, the most notable of which is And Morning Will Come, a project of Writivism. Sunshower is his debut novel and the winner of the Quramo Writers’ Prize (QWP) 2020.
Afritondo is a platform that aims to connect with and tell the stories of African and black minority population. Previous winners of its short story prize have been: Jarred Thompson, Desta Hailey, and Howard Meh-Buh Maximus.
Alex Kadiri is the first Nigerian to win the prize.
Congratulations to him!
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