Every year in May when the shortlist for the Caine Prize for African Writing is announced, I read the stories and begin to guess who will win. Sometimes I am wrong, but other times I have guessed it.
The Caine Prize is a literary prize for the best original short story by an African writer. It is named for the late Sir Michael Caine – not the actor, but the former chairman of Booker plc – who had been working on the idea of creating a prize to encourage the growing recognition of the worth of African writing in English before he died. His friends and colleagues established the prize in his honor after he died and awarded the first prize in 2000.
My book club reads and discusses the stories. I have also met some of the writers on the shortlist or winners, such as Monica Arac de Nyeko, who won in 2007; Olufemi Terry, who won in 2010; Ken Barris; Alex Smith; and Namwali Serpell, who all made last year’s shortlist. This made me realize that it is possible to get on the shortlist or win the prize.
On Thursday, when I read my e-mail from Nick Elam, administrator of the Caine Prize, saying that I was one of five writers on the shortlist for the Caine Prize for my short story, I felt as if I was in dreamland and I didn’t want to be woken up. I asked a friend to read the e-mail just in case my eyes were seeing what wasn’t there.
My dream of winning the Caine Prize has been brought close with my short story “Butterfly Dreams,” which was published in 2010 by Critical, Cultural and Communications Press in the book “Butterfly Dreams and Other New Short Stories from Uganda.” For me, the story is about the impact of war on children. The main character, Lamunu, was abducted to fight a war she hardly understands, and when she gets back home, her family realizes that she is damaged but there is nothing they can do because she is their daughter. I am intrigued by the impact of the two decades of war in northern Uganda, and I find myself dwelling in those issues in my writing.
I have read and enjoyed “In the Country of Men” by Hisham Matar, one of the five judges for this year’s Caine Prize, and I am glad that he also read my story, which I hope he enjoyed. The other judges are Ellah Allfrey, Granta Magazine deputy editor; Vicky Unwin, publisher, film and travel writer; David Gewanter, Georgetown University Professor and poet; and Aminatta Forna, award-winning author.
I am excited and happy about being on the shortlist. It is not the £10,000 prize money and one month’s residence at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., which excite me but the fact that the Caine Prize has opened many doors for me to the world and that many people will read my work. It is an answer to my dream, and I hope and pray that many good things will happen to my writing career as a result.
I have received overwhelming support from friends and lovers of literature all over the world. I am sure that many more will come. I still feel as if I am in a dream, and I don’t want anyone to wake me up. Because I am enjoying my dream life.
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