The Island Prize Longlist 2024
Once again we have been both overwhelmed and heartened by the number of entries we have received this year. They have come from all over Africa and, as can be seen by this year’s longlist, represent a broad and talented continent with many stories to tell in a variety of ways.
As a result of the array of talent and potential we encountered during the reading process, we found it very difficult to make decisions and that is why we have ended up with this slightly longer-than-anticipated longlist of ten:
In Vain by Joao Canoquena (Angola)
Lyrics to the Colour Red by Ruby Excel (Ghana)
Landlord of the Evil Forest by Chidinma Iwuoha (Nigeria)
Before the Rapine by Kebba S. Juwara (Gambia)
When The Shadows Call by Mali Kambandu (Zambia)
Freelance by Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza (Zimbabwe)
The Village Bus by Phelelani Makhanya (South Africa)
Outside Where the Rain Falls by Wayne Samuel (Nigeria)
Marionette by Reda Soliman (Egypt)
What it Means to Outlive a Daughter by Chioniso Tsikisayi (Zimbabwe)
We will now begin reading the longlist and preparing to announce the shortlist in early May, with the winner to be announced soon thereafter. In the meantime, we will be sharing information about the longlisted authors and their manuscripts on social media and we hope you will join us in celebrating them all!
The judges are
Karen Jennings, co-founder of The Island Prize, is a South African writer whose novel An Island was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021. Karen has written several novels, a memoir, poetry collection and short story collection. She is currently writer-in-residence as a post-doctoral fellow at the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa’s Past (LEAP), Stellenbosch University. Her new novel, Crooked Seeds, is coming out globally in April.
Reem Gaafar is a public health physician, writer, researcher, filmmaker and mother of three boys. Over the years she accumulated nearly two hundred publications including blog posts, peer-reviewed and magazine articles, short stories, policy briefs and book contributions.
Her fiction and non-fiction writing has appeared in African Arguments, African Feminism, Teakisi Magazine, Andariya, 500 Words Magazine, International Health Policies and Health Systems Global. In 2023 Reem won the Island Prize with her novel ‘A Mouth Full of Salt’, which is now to be published worldwide by Saqi Books of London.
Sana Goyal is Wasafiri’s Editor and Publishing Director. Having previously worked as Digital Editor and Deputy Editor at the magazine, Sana also has experience working as Publicity Manager at Tilted Axis Press and Marketing and Outreach Officer at Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal. She has a PhD in literary prizes from SOAS, University of London, and has judged prizes for the Orwell Foundation, English PEN. and is the 2024 judge of the Republic of Consciousness Prize. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Financial Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, Poetry London, Vogue India, and elsewhere. She tweets @SansyG
