Please join Catalyst Press and our publishing partner, Short Story Day Africa, in congratulating Idza Luhumyo and Mbozi Haimbre. Idza was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for her story, “Five Years Next Sunday,” and Mbozi was shortlisted for a Nommo Award in the short story category for her story, “Shelter.” Both of these appeared in our recently-released collection, Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa, the newest Short Story Day Africa Anthology. Idza and Mbozi were also the winner and first runner-up, respectively, for the Short Story Day Africa Prize.
About Idza: Idza Luhumyo is a Kenyan writer. Her work has been published by Popula, Jalada Africa, The Writivism Anthology, Baphash Literary & Arts Quarterly, MaThoko’s Books, Gordon Square Review, Amsterdam’s ZAM Magazine, Short Story Day Africa, the New Internationalist, The Dark, and African Arguments. Her work has been shortlisted for the Short Story Day Africa Prize, the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship, and the Gerald Kraak Award. She is the inaugural winner of the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award (2020) and winner of the Short Story Day Africa Prize (2021). The Caine Prize for African writing honors an African writer of a short story published in English. Launched in 2000, the Caine Prize spotlights the richness and diversity of African writing by bringing it to a wider audience internationally. She joins Joshua Chizoma (Nigeria), Nana-Ama Danquah (Ghana), Hannah Giorgis (Ethiopia), and Billie McTernan (Ghana). Idza’s story will be featured in an upcoming anthology of the shortlisted authors. Learn more about the nominees and read the shortlisted stories here.
About Mbozi: Mbozi Haimbe was born and raised in Lusaka, Zambia and lives in the Norfolk, UK with her family. A qualified Social Worker by profession, Mbozi’s short story ‘Madam’s Sister’ won the Africa region prize of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2019, and a 2020 PEN America/Robert J. Dau Prize. Mbozi has a Master of Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She was awarded a Develop Your Creative Practice award by Arts Council England in January 2020. She is currently working on her debut novel, an Afrofuturistic story loosely based on the Makishi masquerade traditions of the North-western people of Zambia. The Nommo Awards are presented by the African Specultative Fiction Society, and honor science fiction and fantasy created by Africans. In her category, she is joined by Makena Onjerika, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Pemi Aguda, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Tobi Ogundiran, and Wole Talabi. You can read all of the shortlisted stories at the Nommo Awards site.
About Disruption: New Short Fiction from Africa
“An electric collection of stories that seethes with horror and beauty.” — Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls and Afterland
This genre-spanning anthology explores the many ways that we grow, adapt, and survive in the face of our ever-changing global realities. In these evocative, often prescient, stories, new and emerging writers from across Africa investigate many of the pressing issues of our time: climate change, pandemics, social upheaval, surveillance, and more.
Disruption is the newest anthology from Short Story Day Africa (SSDA), a non-profit organization established to develop and share the diversity of Africa’s voices through publishing and writing workshops.
Edited by Jason Mykl Snyman, Karina M. Szczurek, and Rachel Zadok
Featuring stories by: MacSmart Ojiludu (Nigeria) | Kanyinsola Olorunnisola (Nigeria) | Najwa Bin Shatwan (Libya) | Nadia Ahidjo-Iya (Cameroon) | Innocent Ilo (Nigeria) | Melusi Nkomo (Zimbabwe) | Victor Forna (Sierra Leone) | Nicholas Dawn (South Africa) | Genna Gardini (South Africa) | Philisiwe Twijnstra (South Africa) | Doreen Anyango (Uganda) | Masiyaleti Mbewe (Zambia) | Julia Louw (South Africa) | Liam Brickhill (Zimbabwe) | Jacob M’hango (Zambia) | Gomolemo Mogotsi (Botswana) | Mbozi Haimbe (Zambia) | Idza Luhumyo (Kenya) | Alithnayn Abdulkareem (Nigeria) | Yefon Isabelle (Cameroon) | Edwin Okolo (Nigeria
