A Nigerian writer, Tope Folarin has won the Caine Writing Prize award 2013. The US based writer was shortlisted among three other Nigerian writers and a Sierra Leonean. A total of 96 entries from 96 African countries were received and the judges chose five of them as the finalists.
The other writers and their novels are, Nigerians Elnathan John (‘Bayan Layi’), Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (‘The Whispering’), Chinelo Okparanta (‘America’), and Tope Folarin (‘Miracle’), and Sierra Leonean Pede Hollist (‘Foreign Aid’)
Tope emerged as the winner for his short story, “Miracle.” A story about Nigerian evangelical church in Texas and how Nigerian pastors are giving Nigerian diaspora in the US hope.
Tope received the sum of £10,000 ($15,000) at an event that held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Last year’s Caine Writing Prize award was also won by a Nigerian writer, Rotimi Babatunde. His book “Bombay’s Republic” talked about Nigerian soldiers who fought in the Burma campaign during World War II.
Shortly before Tope Folarin was announced the winner of the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing, he and the other four short-listed writers were on BBC Africa to talk about their novels, expectations and more. The picture above was taken at the BBC studio.