Seven African writers are among the 25 shortlisted for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, chosen from a record 7,806 entries submitted across 54 Commonwealth countries. The shortlist, announced by an international panel of judges chaired by British novelist and dramatist Louise Doughty, spans 14 countries and represents one of the most competitive pools in the prize’s history.

Nigeria leads the African contingent with four writers. Hussani Abdulrahim makes the list with Arewa Girls, joined by Oluwatoke Adejoye with New Things, Ola W. Halim (returning to the shortlist for the second time) with Shock Me I Shock You, and Dawn Immanuel with The God under the Bed. Ghana’s Lois Akoma Antwi features with Orchard of Blackbirds, Kenya’s Ken Odak Odumbe with The Runner’s Gift, and South Africa’s Lisa-Anne Julien rounds out the African seven with Me and Ma’am. 

Africa’s judge on the panel is South African journalist, author and short story writer Fred Khumalo, who joins Louise Doughty alongside judges from Bangladesh, Canada, Jamaica, and Australia, one from each of the five Commonwealth regions. The regional winners will be announced on 13 May, with each receiving £2,500. The overall winner, who takes home £5,000, will be announced in late June at the Commonwealth Short Story Prize Award Ceremony.

The prize is among the most genuinely international in contemporary literary culture, Canadian Vincentian writer Chanel Sutherland won the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize with Haunting Story About Enslaved Africans. Open to unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words, it accepts work written in twelve languages beyond English, including Bengali, Swahili, Malay, and French. This year, stories translated from Bengali and Malay made the shortlist, a Maltese writer also features for the first time in the prize’s history. The shortlisted writers range in age from 25 to 68, spanning emerging voices and seasoned practitioners.

Doughty, reflecting on the judging process, described the task as one of comparing works that resist easy comparison, a “lush, descriptive story with elements of magic realism” alongside “a sparse and understated account of city life,” characters so fully drawn they stay with you against plots that leave you groping for more. What united the final selections, she said, was writers who understood not just how to write well, but how to work within the particular demands of the short story, a form she described as “a miniature carved in words that holds all the potential of a full-length novel in a few dense brushstrokes.”

All 25 shortlisted stories will be published online at addastories.org. The five regional winners will go on to be published by Granta. For African writers navigating a global literary landscape that can feel designed for other voices, a shortlist that counts seven from the continent, four from Nigeria alone, is the kind of notice that brings welcome attention. Previous shortlistees and winners have gone on to secure agents, judge prizes, and build the kinds of careers that can sustain a writing life. That possibility now belongs to seven more.