Introducing: THE SHORTLIST 2023
The Island Prize could not be happier to be announcing our three shortlisted writers and their work.
Despite an incredibly strong longlist and a long deliberation process, these entries were chosen unanimously by the judges. These are three promising and exciting writers from three different countries, across the continent and with very different subject matter.
However, what they all share is emotional, intellectual, and literary depth.
Without further ado, the shortlisted entries and their authors are:
Bobo Hamham, Aganaba, Jesudubami Jemima
A Nigerian story told through the eyes of three children and their devastating encounters with terrorism. A story of class, missed connections, and the frail innocence of youth.
A Mouth Full of Salt, Reem Gaafar
During the search for a drowned boy in the North of Sudan, a strange woman appears and with her a series of strange and tragic events. Animals die of a mysterious illness; the date tree field catches fire and burns to the ground; a young girl dies. The women in this story are trapped in a gender and racial hierarchy, with ingrained bigotry blaming all change in society on evil outside forces.
Braids and Migraines, Andile MaShandu Cele
In Braids and Migraines, siblings Bhutiwakhe and Nomandla Mkhize are faced with yet another crisis in their lives; this time, Nomandla has been expelled from a prestigious school in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, where she is currently doing her final year. Bhutiwakhe is ten years’ older than Nomandla and has for the past four years played a parental role in his sister’s life. A story of family, mental health, and a brewing movement.
Find out more about these talented writers below.
Aganaba, Jesudubami Jemima, Bobo Hamham
Nigeria
Aganaba, Jesudubami Jemima is a young Bayelsan with a passion for stories. She studied English and Literary Studies at Niger Delta University. Jemima also loves children, soulful music, and eccentric fashion.
Her works have been published by F-bom, Kalahari Review, Creative Freelance Writerz; ‘Coloured’; and ‘Go the Way your Blood Beats’; (both anthologies), and Michael Afenfia’s ‘Write Now 2018’.
To get a feel for her work, take a look at her website — jemimajaphet.wordpress.com.
Reem Gaafar, A Mouth Full of Salt
Sudan
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. Her short story ‘Light of the Desert’ was published in the anthology ‘I Know Two Sudans’ by Gippings Press UK and was awarded an Honorable Mention, and her second short story ‘Finding Decartes’ was published in the anthology ‘Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices’ by HarperVia.
She was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship in 2020.
More on her work can be seen at reemgaafar.com.
Andile Mashandu Cele, Braids and Migraines
South Africa
Andile Mashandu Cele is a writer and communications consultant from South Africa. She was born in KwaZulu-Natal, in a town called Stanger. She grew up on a farm, where her mother worked as a domestic worker for a farming family. She then left what she had always known as home to pursue her post secondary education in Pretoria. There she joined a campus poetry group where students wrote and recited poems.
She has a BTech in Journalism from the Tshwane University of Technology, a BA in Creative Writing and BA (Honours) Theory of Literature from the University of South Africa.