Now in its nineteenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa’s 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 the five 2018 shortlisted stories: American Dream by Nonyelum Ekwempu (Nigeria); The Armed Letter Writers by Olofunke Ogundimu (Nigeria); Fanta Blackcurrant by Makena Onjerika (Kenya); Involution by Stacy Hardy (South Africa); Wednesday’s Story by Wole Talabi (Nigeria). It also includes 12 stories written at the Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop, which took place in Rwanda in April 2018: No Ordinary Soiree by Paula Akugizibwe; Tie Kidi by Awuor Onyango; Calling the Clouds Home by Heran T. Abate; America by Caroline Numuhire; All Things Bright and Beautiful by Troy Onyango; Departure by Nsah Mala; Where Rivers Go to Die by Dilman Dila; Ngozi by Bongani Sibanda; The Weaving of Death by Lucky Grace Isingizwe; Redemption Song by Arinze Ifeakandu; Spaceman by Bongani Kona; Grief is the Gift that Breaks the Spirit Open by Eloghosa Osunde. The 2018 judging panel comprises: Dinaw Mengestu, journalist, author and graduate of Georgetown University and of Columbia University’s M.F.A. programme in fiction; Alain Mabanckou, prolific Francophone Congolese poet and novelist and Man Booker International Prize finalist (2015); reporter, columnist and poet Ahmed Rajab; Henrietta Rose-Innes, a South African author who won the Caine Prize in 2008; and Lola Shoneyin, a Nigerian writer who has won the Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize.