In story after story, the adeptness of touch, freshness of perspective, originality of language, and depth of insight sustained a sense of encounter with something akin to orchestral splendour.
– Okey Ndibe, Chair of Judges, 2022 AKO Caine Prize

Includes the 2021 and 2022 shortlisted AKO Caine Prize stories, as well as stories from the Caine Prize workshop.

Tales of sacrifice, love, freedom, self-discovery and loss fill the pages of this tapestry of stories from across Africa and its diaspora.

Forged in a diversity of tempers and forms, these stories range from the epistolary to the experimental, from mysteries, noirs and political thrillers to speculative fiction and futurism, and much more.

In prose that moves from visual and lyrical to gritty and visceral, these writers explore fate, memory, the fragility of love and the duplicitous nature of human interactions.