Ugandan writer Innocent Immaculate Acan won the fourth annual Writivism Short Story Prize for fiction for her story Sundown.

“I did not expect to win this prize. I am not a professional writer,” Acan said at the Writivism Festival awards ceremony held at the Uganda National Museum in Kampala on August 28. 

She received a $500 cash prize, and will attend a one month writing residency at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

The other stories that made it to the final list were Boyi, by Gloria Mwaniga Odary (Kenya), Je ne suis pas rentree, by Laure Gnagbé Blédou (Cote d'Ivoire), The Swahilification of Mutembei, by Abu Amirah (Kenya), and The List, by Joseph Aito Osemegbe (Nigeria). The writers received $100 each.

Sundown and the other four short stories will be published in the Munyori Literary Journal later this year.

Acan, 20, is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery at Makerere University in Kampala; she says writing is her “first love.”

Sundown is set in the future, 2050 AD, where humanity is waking up to the reality that the scientists lied to everyone — the sun is dying, and with it a civilisation that was painstakingly built over 150,000 years.

The scientists say that the sun has only a few weeks to go — days even. Uganda is experiencing its first winter; one of the greenest countries in the world is now white.

The story revolves around a 15-year-old Ugandan albino boy called Red Sun, and Nyambura his caregiver. Red cannot leave the house without a jacket and oxygen tank. He hopes that the sun dies before the atmospheric oxygen is depleted, as he would rather die than live the rest of his life tied to the insulated metal tank he carries around.

Animals are dropping dead from hunger. All that’s left are vultures and flies that thrived on the dead, and the reptiles and amphibians that thrive on flies.

An earthquake erupts, and a force starts to pull Red’s body apart. Piece by piece, he disintegrates just as the earth does. Is this what a black hole feels like?

Poetry prize

The Okot p’Bitek Prize for Poetry in Translation went to Redscar McOdindo K’Oyuga from Kenya for his poem She Was Born Natural (English translation of Kazaliwa na Maumbile Yake).

K’Oyuga won a cash prize of $500, and a one-month writing residency at an African university.

The joint second-prize winners of the Okot p’Bitek Prize, Gbenga Adesina and Nebeolisa Okwudili, received $50 each.

K’Oyuga writes in Kiswahili and English, and his work has been published in several journals and anthologies. He also contributes to the poetry pages of the Kiswahili newspapers Taifa Leo and Taifa Jumapili.

It is now 50 years since the publication of Okot p’Bitek’s 1966 poem, Song of Lawino. The prize named after him is for poets who write originally in an African language, and translate their poetry to English.

The Writivism Festival was organised by the Centre for African Cultural Excellence in Kampala. This year’s edition was held from August 22 to 28, under the theme Restoring Connections.

A record 10 books were launched at this year’s festival, up from two books at previous editions. The festival featured book readings, poetry performances, panel discussions on issues affecting African literature, and workshops on literary entrepreneurship, among other activities.