A new compilation of Caine Prize stories, titled A Mind to Silence and Other Stories, is out in the UK and will be released in the US in October, both editions published by Cassava Republic. 

There are twenty-one stories in the collection, ten of which are stories shortlisted in the 2021 and 2022 award cycles. According to the publisher’s note, the collection is wide-ranging, pulling together stories that showcase the diversity of writing from the continent. The stories explore themes such as “sacrifice, love, freedom, self-discovery and loss,” as well as “fate, memory, the fragility of love and the duplicitous nature of human interactions.” The collection covers diverse genres that includes mystery, noir fiction, political thrillers, epistolary, speculative fiction, and futuristic writing. 

A Mind to Silence and Other Stories is edited by Anwuli Ojogwu. She is the co-founder of Narrative Landscape, an indie press in Lagos and the co-Founder at Society for Book and Magazine Editors of Nigeria. She has extensive experience in publishing and digital media. The cast of featured writers capture Africa’s national diversity with the likes of Uganda’s Doreen Baingana, Ethiopia’s Meron Hadero, Ghana’s Billie McTernan, Nigeria’s T. J. Benson, Rémy Ngamije from Namibia, Troy Onyango from Kenya, and many others.

The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual prize awarded to the best short stories by an African writer. In between award cycles, the prize holds writing workshops featuring emerging voices from the continent. Between the award and the workshop, the AKO Caine Prize platform has become a great way to discover new African writing. This year’s collection is no different in the breadth of new work it showcases.

See buying options below.

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UK readers of A Mind to Silence and Other Stories: buy | Cassava Republic

US readers A Mind to Silence and Other Stories: pre-order |  Amazon