Goethe-Institut hosts Caine Prize in Ghana programme

The Goethe-Institut in Accra will on Saturday, April 18, host a panel discussion, reading and awards for the 2015 edition of Caine Prize for African Writers.

Prudential PLC, one of the world’s leading financial services groups, and Groupe Nduom, are the primary sponsors of this year’s workshop.

The Caine Prize, known as Africa’s leading literary award, has held 12 workshops in Africa since 2003. 

Twelve writers from eight African countries have convened at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Elmina since last Monday, April 6, for a 13- day camp. 

The selected writers have been tasked to write, read and discuss work in progress and to learn from two experienced writers, Leila Aboulela, who is a Sudanese author and winner of the inaugural Caine Prize in 1999 and Zukiswa Wanner, a South African novelist and journalist. Both will act as tutors.

This year’s participants include African writers such as Diane Awerbuck (South Africa), and Efemia Chela (Zambia/Ghana) who were shortlisted for the 2014 prize and Onipede Hollist (Sierra Leona). 

The other writers are Dalle Abraham (Kenya), Nkiacha Atemnkeng (Cameroun), Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria), Timothy Kiprop Kimutai (Kenya), Jonathan Mbuna (Malawi), Jonathan Dotse, Jemila Abdulai, Aisha Nelson and Nana Nyarko Boateng (Ghana).

During the workshop, the writers will be expected to write a short story for the 2015 Caine Prize , which will be published by New Internationalist on July 1 2015.

Stories conceived at annual workshops are automatically entered for the following year’s Caine Prize.

“As investment in Africa’s growing economies expands, it is excellent to see the support businesses can provide to the arts, especially literature, and writing and reading, as part of their corporate social responsibility goals”, said Ellah Wakatama Allfrey OBE, Deputy Chairperson of the Caine Prize.

The workshops will also incorporate visits to local senior and junior schools in the Elmina/Cape Coast metropolis, offering students an opportunity to meet the writers and exchange ideas about writing and literature.

Commonwealth Writers, Beit Trust, Morel Trust, Sub-Saharan Publishers, Writers Project Ghana and Goethe-Institut, the German cultural Centre in Accra are providing support for the workshop.