The Rathbones Folio Prize recently announced the books shortlisted for the 2023 edition. Three African writers made it to the shortlist!

The 2023 shortlist features three African writers in the categories of fiction and poetry. Zimbabwean author Noviolet Bulawayo‘s novel Glory made it to the Fiction shortlist. The Poetry shortlist includes both Ghanaian-British poet Victoria Adukwei Bulley‘s collection Quiet and Nigerian-British poet Yomi Sode‘s book Manorism.

Bulawayo’s Glory uses animal characters to capture the chaos that follows the ousting and subsequent death of Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe. Quiet is a collection of poetry that looks at the politics and metaphysics of silences in an increasingly noisy world. Sode’s collection of poems explores the lives of Black British men and boys.

The Rathbones Folio Prize was established in 2014 and is open to all works of literature written in English and published in the UK. Each category winner will receive a £2,000 prize and one book will then be crowned overall Rathbones Folio Prize winner, with the winning author receiving an additional £30,000.

The winners will be announced on Monday, March 27. Stay tuned for more details.

Congrats to Noviolet Bulawayo, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, and Yomi Sode! We wish them the best of luck.