Africa-centered Caine Prize awarded to 'Miracle' author Tope Folarin who hails from US

Source:AFP Published: 2013-7-10 17:08:01

The 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing has been awarded to Nigerian author Tope Folarin for Texan short story Miracle, an extract from forthcoming novel The Proximity of Distance.

Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, an art historian, broadcaster and academic associated with the Tate Britain Council and National Portrait Gallery Board of Trustees, proclaimed Miracle a worthy winner, describing it as "a delightful and beautifully paced narrative, that is exquisitely observed and utterly compelling."

Set in a Nigerian evangelical church in Texas, presided over by a blind prophet, Miracle examines "religion and the gullibility of those caught in the deceit that sometimes comes with faith" through the eyes of a young believer, read the Caine Prize statement.

"What an unbelievable night. I'm still floating," tweeted Folarin after the Monday awards dinner held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

"My fellow shortlistees are great writers and - more importantly - wonderful human beings," he wrote before the ceremony.

Folarin, who serves the Hurston/Wright educational foundation as a board member, represented Nigeria, though he was born and raised in the US, where he lives and works. It was a first for the Caine Prize, which was established in 2000 and is open to those who were born in Africa, are African nationals, or whose parents are African.

Besides receiving a 10,000 pounds ($14,897) award, he is invited to be a Writer-in-Residence at Georgetown University, in his current hometown of Washington DC, and given an opportunity to participate in Cape Town's Open Book Festival in September.

AFP

Posted in: Books

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