The Island Prize Shortlist

Mali Kambandu is a writer living in her homeland Zambia. In 2018, Mali won the Kalemba Short Story Award in its inaugural year for the short story A hand to hold and was shortlisted for the Writivism Short Story Award for the story The
Photograph. Mali’s other work has appeared in several literary platforms, such as Gyara Journal, AfricanWriter.com, The Kalahari Review, Menelique and Maapilim. In 2020, Mali sat on the Judging Panel for the Kalemba Short Story Prize. Mali also served as guest editor of Lolwe Literary magazine Issue 5.

Lucille Sambo is a 23 year old storyteller and wanderer. She uses her words to connect with people; to make them feel like they are not alone in this world.

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, but currently working in Germany, Lucille dreams to explore the Film industry as a writer.

Ikenna Okeh writes narrative poetry, and his prose fiction is centred around African characters. He also writes music reviews for UbuntuFM, an online music promotion platform with virtual headquarters in South Africa. His poetry collections are available in the library of the Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden. Ikenna Okeh spends his time between Antalya and Port-Harcourt.  

Tšepang Molisana is a writer and editor from Johannesburg, South Africa. Tšepang has written for publications such as the Mail & Guardian, Marie Claire, Sawubona, Woolworths Taste, Eat Out, Jancis Robinson online and other titles.

Tšepang was the editor of Places, the inflight magazine for Fastjet. She completed a poetry course, Between the Page and Stage with Toni Stuart. In 2016 she was awarded the Veritas Young Wine Writer of the Year Award. She holds a BSc in Property Studies from the University of Cape Town. Bread and Butter Pudding is her debut novel.

Sarah Isaacs is a writer and visual storyteller based in Cape Town, South Africa. After graduating from a psychology degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2009, she shifted her professional focus to portrait and documentary photography, creating safe spaces for South African women to share their everyday struggles and stories. Boosted by the voices of  the women she photographed, she was able to explore her own relationship to issues of identity, gender based violence and the impact of infertility on a woman’s sense of self. In 2018 she invited victims of GBV to be photographed as a way of sharing their stories of abuse, and ten women stepped forward. She turned the lessons she learnt from that portrait series into a 2019 TEDx talk, entitled “The Vulnerability-Victimhood Paradox”, which centred on survivor shame and its implications for the expression of vulnerability. Sarah was accepted into UCT’s Creative Writing Masters program in 2020, and completed her first novel, “Glass Tower”, at the end of 2021. She lives in the city centre with her husband and two cats, and finds joy in walking through town and watching strangers go about their day.    

I, Dominic Muchiri, son of Isaiah Nderi Gacharia and Orida Ndia was born on 14th September, 1948 as a sixth born and second son in a family of seven children. When I was four years old, the State of Emergency was declared in Central Kenya where I lived. This was because there was a Rebellion that came to be known as Mau Mau Rebellion against the Colonial Government. Two years later in 1954, we were moved to villages and all peoples were involved in this Rebellion. My family and others moved to Kigaa Village, where there was a Primary School that I joined in 1958. I topped in my class up to the final year in 1964. In 1965 I joined St. Paul’s High School and did my Cambridge School Certificate in 1968. In 1969, I proceeded to St. John’s Teachers Training College in Kilima Mbogo where I studied for two years and then started teaching the following year. I studied privately for my “A” Levels School Certificate in English Literature, History and Religion studies. Twice, I got scholarship to attend study programmes in the United State of America (USA). I attended Krotona Institute in California in Ojai, for a three months study programme in Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science. Later at Waterberg Institute in Dubuque, Lowa for a one year programme. I then came back to Kenya to my teaching career until I retired in December, 2003. It is during this time that I started writing my Novel ON HONOURABLE MINISTER’S SERVICE while doing small scale farming at my home.