Olufemi Terry wins Caine writing prize

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/10519045.stm

The Sierra Leonean writer Olufemi Terry has won this year's Caine
Prize for African Writing, regarded as Africa's leading literary
award.
The prize was given for his story Stickfighting Days - the judges said
it presented a heroic culture that was "Homeric" in its scale and
conception.
They described Olufemi Terry as a talent with an enormous future.
Terry was born in Sierra Leone, grew up in Nigeria, was a journalist
in Somalia and Uganda, and now lives in Cape Town.
His book is about Raul, a boy who lives in a dump and uses sticks to
fight with other boys.
The Caine prize, of £10,000 ($16,000), is given annually for a short
story published in English by an African writer.
Terry, however, told the BBC he thought it was "unhelpful" to see
writers from the continent as a distinct category.
"There is a danger in seeking authenticity in African writing," he
told the World Today programme.
However, he said he was glad to have won the prize, as it would help
him get his first novel published.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

The story:

http://www.caineprize.com/pdf/2010_Terry.pdf

On Jul 6, 5:32 pm, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>
wrote: