The 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing has been awarded to Rotimi Babatunde.
The Nigerian writer won the £10,000 award for his short story Bombay’s Republic that was published in the Mirabilia Review.
Bernadine Evaristo, the Chair of the judging panel, announced Babatunde as the award recipient on Monday evening. The award dinner was held at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.
Bombay’s Republic is a story set during World War II and recreates the experience of a Nigerian soldier fighting in the Burma campaign. It explores independence, colonialism, and psychological survival.
Babatunde has many written works of fiction. His poems and short stories have been published throughout Europe, the Americas, and Africa. In the past, he has won the Meridian Tragic Love Story Competition held by the BBC World Service. His plays have also been performed by major theatrical institutions such as the Halcyon Theatre.
As a result of winning the Caine prize, Babatunde has been offered one month’s residence at Georgetown University as a writer-in-residence at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. He will also take part in the Open Book Festival in Cape Town, South Africa in September of this year, as well as various events held by the Museum of African Art in New York in November.
Congrats to Mr. Babatunde and we look forward to the completion of his latest collaborative piece.
