Kenyan writer Idza Luhumyo has bagged the 2022 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story ‘Five Years Next Sunday’.
With the win, she became the fifth Kenyan writer to bag the award after Binyavanga Wainaina who did it in 2002. Luhumyo, who beat a total of 267 other entries in a record year of submissions, got Kh1, 424 644 (£10,000) prize money.
Other Kenyans who have won the award include Yvonne Owuor (2003), Okwiri Oduor (2014) and Makena Onjerika (2018).
The win was announced by Okey Ndibe, who is the Chairperson of the 2022 AKO Caine Prize Judging Panel, at an award ceremony held at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
“An incandescent story – its exquisite language wedded to the deeply moving drama of a protagonist whose mystical office invites animus at every turn,” Ndibe said during the ceremony.
In 2021, ‘Five Years Next Sunday’, won the 2021 Short Story Day Africa Prize.
