Kenyan poet Owen Lwanda shortlisted for the Afritondo Short Story Prize 2026

Kenyan poet Owen Habel Lwanda is among five writers shortlisted for the Afritondo Short Story Prize 2026 with his piece titled The Sun of God. The shortlist was announced on April 18. 

The winning writer will receive Sh129,100 ($1,000), while the other four shortlisted writers will each receive Sh12,910 ($100). The entire longlist, comprising 15 writers, will also be published in Afritondo’s global anthology.

This year’s theme is titled Transition and invites writers to explore stories of change, becoming, rupture, and renewal. The prize received more than 760 entries from over 40 countries worldwide.

Storytellers from countries including Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Eswatini, Namibia, Mozambique, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Seychelles, and South Sudan took part, depicting Afritondo’s growing global community of Black and African writers.

From these submissions, 15 writers were selected for the longlist, and from it, a shortlist of five writers was selected for the final stage of the competition, with Lwanda representing Kenya. Lwanda is a contemporary poet whose work explores themes of memory, loss, identity, and quiet resilience.

The 2026 prize is judged by Pete Kalu, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, and Fayssal Bensalah. The overall winner will be announced during an online ceremony in May.

The Afritondo Short Story Prize celebrates outstanding fiction from Black and African writers worldwide. Every year, the competition invites entries based on a selected theme, showcasing new perspectives and imaginative storytelling.

Other shortlisted writers

Joe Lyimo is a Tanzanian musician and writer based in Vienna. He has been shortlisted for Things We Don’t Say at the Border. His practice addresses themes of love, pain, and resilience through music and writing shaped by lived emotional experience.

Lynette Sifiso is a Zimbabwean-American writer, visual artist, and cultural curator. She has been shortlisted for Between Living and Gone. Her practice spans creative nonfiction, fiction, and hybrid forms, often engaging memory, identity, and personal and collective histories.

Ekenedirichukwu Alita writes from Abakaliki, Nigeria. He has been shortlisted for Ozoemekwanam. His practice engages human psychology, memory, grief, and emotional fragility, focusing on the inner lives of everyday experience.

Joe Ruzvidzo is a Zimbabwean writer and freelance journalist based in Geneva, Switzerland. He has been shortlisted for The Hollow Hill. His practice explores migration, identity, and displacement, exploring lived experience and contemporary political realities.