Tuesday 10 of May 2011
Ugandan writer joins race for Caine prize
A Ugandan is among candidates shortlisted for this year's Caine Prize for African Writing, a literary award that has mostly been dominated by South Africans and Nigerians.
Nominated for her story Butterfly Dreams; published in Butterfly Dreams and other Short Stories from Uganda, Beatrice Lamwaka joins the race for an award that has become one of the most publicised in the continent. If she wins, the budding author will join her compatriot Monica Arac de Nyeko, who won the award in 2007.
Butterfly Dreams is an introspective story of a society trying to come to terms with the scars of her war. It revolves around Lamumu, an innocent young Ugandan who has been through a war situation.
Caught in the confusions of war, we see Yu wriggle out of the mud. At first is a refugee camp, then rescue before going to a class that leaves him with tears, not of sorrow, but of hope that one day, he will see his dream of becoming a medical doctor come to fruition.
In a way, the story echoes a reality that the East African country has had to deal with several times, especially during the 1980s.
In more recent times, in the northern Uganda that was for years in the grip of the Lord's Resistance Army under Joseph Kony, children were caught in the crossfire, some were even engaged in the actual war. Thousands fled as several were left lame.
Previous winners
Besides the Ugandan storyteller, there are several others gunning for the Caine Prize this year. They are NoViolet Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) with Hitting Budapest, Tim Keegan (South Africa) offering What Molly Knew and Lauri Kubuitsile (Botswana) In the spirit of McPhineas Lata.
David Medalie's (South Africa) with The Mistress’s Dog, is also in the race whose winner will take home $16,300 prize plus other goodies. The winner will be named in July.
May 9, 2011 by Mwenda wa Micheni
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Source: www.africareview.com/Arts+and+Culture/Ugandan+writer+in+the+race+for+2011+Caine+prize/-/979194/1158954/-/6futthz/-/index.html (Accessed: 10.05.2011)