The Goddess of Mtwara and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2017

by The Caine Prize for African Writing (Introduction)

The leading African literary award, known as the African Booker, named after the Booker Prize founder, Michael Caine. Now entering its eighteenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africas leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. This collection brings together seventeen short storiesthe five 2017 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the 2017 Caine Prize Writers Workshop that took place in Tanzania. The collection showcases young writers who go on to publish successful novels, for instance: Leila Aboulela, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta, Brian Chikwava and Helon Habila. The shortlisted writers include: Gods Children are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu (Nigeria); The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away by Bushra al-Fadil (Sudan), translated by Max Shmookler; Bush Baby by Chikodili Emelumadu (Nigeria);Who Will Greet You at Home by Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria); The Virus by Magogodi oa Mphela Makhene (South Africa). The collection also includes stories written by the following authors at the workshop that took place in Tanzania: Last years winner, Lidudumalingani (South Africa), Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya), Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria) Tendai Huchu (Zimbabwe), Cheryl Ntumy (Botswana/Ghana), Daniel Rafiki (Rwanda), Darla Rudakubana (Rwanda), Agazit Abate (Ethiopia).

Genres: Short Stories, Africa, African Literature, Fiction

271 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2017

Reviews

[Lai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered a new favorite author of mine, lesley nneka arimah, from this book; her short stories(3) really captured the emotional horror of the society of her characters. This book was really intriguing for me because as someone that was mad about reading in my younger yrs; still am but audible as saved my life because of adulting, it is always refreshing to read and discover new African writers. Ironically, the short story that title was given was on of my least favorite.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supernatural elements show up in a few of the stories, as well as the clash between tradition and modernity. Both my favorites are from the workshop.

Favorites:
"Shells" - Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria)
"That Little House in the Village" - Zaka Riwa (Tanzania)

[Taylor Edmonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a collection of short stories born from The Caine Prize for African Writing 2017, featuring talented writers from Africa and the African diaspora. The collection is rich with African culture, transporting the reader to a land humming with the mythical and beautiful. Superstitions thread through everyday life like modern fairy tales, forbidden love leaves your heart hurting and God is loved, cursed and celebrated.

The collection opens with Who Will Greet You At Home, a mysterious tale by Lesley Nneka Arimah exploring motherhood. Ogechi, an expectant mother, creates a baby out of the scraps of hair strewn about the salon that she works in. As part of tradition, expectant mothers make babies out of the strongest and most durable materials they can find, to be blessed by an elder and therefore guarantee a successful birth. Ogechi’s hair baby is glossy and impenetrable, striking warm maternal feelings inside her. But the baby’s strength comes with a never-ending appetite to consume, and Ogechi struggles to keep its hunger satisfied.

The story takes me back to watching Rosemary’s Baby for the first time. Both invert the typical idea of a blissful, loving motherhood and create something a lot more sinister. The idea of the unborn baby having dominance over its mother, out-growing and consuming her is disturbing, which is what makes the story such an interesting read.

Throughout the anthology, taboos are tested, African language is delicately threaded with English and a variety of genres are covered, from the postmodern to the mythical. For example, God’s Children are Little Broken Things (Arinze Ifeakandu) explores the love between two boys at university, An Unperson Stands on the Cracked Pavement Contemplating Being and Nothingness (Tendai Huchu) paints a picture of a monotonous postmodern world through existentialism and Shells modernises myth and confronts the horrors of a deteriorating memory.

[Ceci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this book. While the first few stories are engaging, I quickly became bored with this. I found myself skipping past stories when the first few paragraphs were dull or completely un-engaging.

This is pretty standard, in my opinion. Most short story collections have a few big winners and a majority are fairly middle ground. Good writing, but they are story winners - meaning they mostly fit a judge's opinion of what a winning story should look like for that contest - not necessarily the best or what readers would want.

I am very glad to be seeing African literature being featured more and more however, since they've long been excluded. I'm hoping this collection is at the beginning of a new group of authors and works.

[Tondi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t often read short stories, much less collections of them. Which is perhaps the reason I found this book difficult to finish. A handful of the stories were engaging, the majority did not engage me. I found many of the tales to be far too abstract, so I skimmed through most of the stories.

I always appreciate whenever African writers are amplified, I enjoyed reading stories from vastly different parts of the continent. The standout stories for me were:

- Bush Baby, Chikodili Emelumadu
- The Virus, Magogodi oaMphela Makhene
- God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, Arinze Ifeakandu
- The Goddess of Mtwara, Esther Karin Mngodo
- This Is How the Hearts Breaks into a Thousand Pieces and Then Folds into a Stone, Lidudumalingani

[Rosebelle Otieno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I liked this short story anthology comprising 16 stories: 5 of them had been shortlisted for the Caine Prize of 2017 and the rest had emerged from the Caine Prize African writers' workshop.
There was a mix of really good stories from around the content like the horror story Bush Baby, the queer-themed God's Children are Little Broken Things, and the creepy Shells.
I literally couldn't get through one story, An Unperson Stands on the Cracked Pavement Contemplating Being and Nothingness.

[Marilyn Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an immersive dive into many different African cultures and a reader unfamiliar with these cultures does what one would if dropped on the street in a foreign city, looking for the familiar and getting the meaning of the unfamiliar from context. Universal themes, though, of infidelity and betrayal, of being outcast or of having stories told about you by others that you know to be untrue. I really liked "Five is Not Half of Ten" and "The Secret Language of Vowels" as well as the very strange "Bush Baby."

[enyanyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay collection of short stories. I loved a few, liked some and gritted my teeth through others. My favourite was Shells; the story got my attention from the first line and held it until the last. I also enjoyed the heart wrenching God’s Children and Bush Baby, which reminded me of Nollywood “horror” films of the late 90s. I wish someone would explain to me what Tendai Huchu’s An Unperson is all about though. I’ve never been as confused by a story before!

[Daniel Hooker · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some real standouts in here, some misses, too

[Muyembe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the best among these was Bush baby by Chikodili Emelumadu. Some are quite depressing. Do not read this if you are looking for sunny happy endings.

[Diana Nuss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m thankful to be introduced to Lesley Nneka Arimah’s writing.

[Helga چـو ایـران نباشد تن من مـباد · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emotionally charged, imaginative and strange short stories of some of the talented African authors.

[Lulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tales capture that balance between traditional Afrikan culture and the Africa of today. Equally thrilling though a story or two didn't match up, still worth it anyway.

[World Literature Today]

"Front-loaded with the 2017 Caine Prize shortlist and rounded out by selections from the prize’s Tanzania workshop, the anthology consolidates the fantastic and the contemplative, yielding a medley of stories palatable for the broadest tastes. Desire and self-preservation pervade many of the assembled works, demonstrating the flexibility of theme regardless of genre." - Daniel Bokemper

This book was reviewed in the Mar/Apr 2018 issue of World Literature Today magazine. Read the full review by visiting our website:

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...