By BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI

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After a three-year hiatus that started after its last festival held in Kampala in August 2019, the Writivism literary initiative has announced a short list of writers for the 2023 Short Story, Poetry, and Koffi Addo Non-fiction prizes.

Works by five writers have been shortlisted in each category, selected from a pool of more than 500 entries, the Writivism Literary Initiative says.

Readers whittled down the entries to under 50 in each category, which were sent to two judges, Ber Anena and Yaa Asantewa (Poetry), Paula Akugizibwe and Tiffany Kagure Mugo (Non-fiction) as well as Rešoketšwe Manenzhe and Juliana Lamy (Fiction), who in turn deliberated on five entries in their respective category.

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The winners in each category will be announced in the coming months. The finalists and their writing have been displayed on the writivism website.

The Writivism Literary Initiative was established as a programme of the Centre for African Cultural Excellence (Cace) in 2012.

In August 2023, the initiative relaunched three prizes to mark its tenth-year anniversary. Winners of each category will take home $1,000 while shortlisted writers will each walk away with $50.

“We revived the prizes last year; we made the announcement of the prizes on the exact date ten years removed from when we held the very first Writivism festival in Kampala. So this edition of the prize is a tenth anniversary,” Cace Director Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire said.

“The attrition rate of African literary and cultural initiatives is very high, and so it was crucial for us to revive Writivism on its tenth anniversary. It was important to end the hiatus we announced after the 2019 edition. We used the opportunity of the tenth anniversary to breathe fresh life into the initiative."

According to Bwesigye, who is an assistant professor at the California State University, they have made several changes to the structure and eligibility for the prize.

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Previously, they required that entrants live in an African country. Now, they have opened up to writers in the diaspora as well.
Writivism has been revived only as a digital initiative. They have also added a prize for poetry.

The South African author Resoketswe Manenzhe and her Nigerian counterpart Frances Ogamba won the 2019 Writivism Short Story Prize and Koffi Addo Prize for Creative Nonfiction awards respectively.

Manenzhe was recognised for her short story titled “Maserumo” while Ogamba was rewarded for real life story The Valley of Memories at the awards ceremony held on August 18, 2019 in Kampala. Both stories capture the power of African spiritualism, beliefs and reincarnation.

Shortlisted Writers

Poetry:

• Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto (Nigeria) — A History That Once Was and Still Is
• Chiwenite Onyekwelu (Nigeria) — Dear Virgin Mary
• Obasiota Ibe (Nigeria) — Scientific Inquiry on I
• Damilola Omotoyinbo (Nigeria) — The Evening News
• Kwame Boateng (Ghana) — Sometimes a Constellation is Your Lover and 1000 Others

Koffi Addo essays

• Ekpenyong K. Collins (Nigeria) — If You’re Gay and Waiting to be Sent Out the Line
• Tamani Tatiana Sale (Nigeria) — Lilies
• Denyse Agahozo (Rwanda) — Sandals are Mountain Shoes
• Mlami Tyulu (South Africa) — The Covenant of Fate
• Kosisochukwu W. Ugwuede (Nigeria) — Sticking the Landing

Short Stories

• Gabrielle Emem Harry (Nigeria) — A Thought and a Word
• Hussani Abdulrahim (Nigeria) — Ahuoyyiza’s Monologue
• Davina Kawuma (Uganda) — Comments Temporarily Disabled
• Sanni Omodolapo (Nigeria) — Your Face is a Covering
• Ella Ngwakwe (Nigeria) — Dele’s Fairies