Nigerian writer, Rotimi Babatunde wins Caine Prize for African Writing

Nigeria's Rotimi Babatunde has won the 2012 Caine Prize for African writing.

He won the pretigious award for his story, Bombay's Republic.

Judge Bernadine Evaristo described Babatunde's 'Bombay’s Republic' as a vivid depiction of a Nigerian soldier fighting in the Burma campaign of World War II.

"It is ambitious, darkly humorous and in soaring, scorching prose exposes the exploitative nature of the colonial project and the psychology of Independence," Evaristo said.

Also shortlisted for the award were: Billy Kahora (Kenya) ‘Urban Zoning’;  Stanley Kenani (Malawi) ‘Love on Trial’; Melissa Tandiwe Myambo (Zimbabwe) ‘La Salle de Départ’; Constance Myburgh (South Africa) ‘Hunter Emmanuel’.



Babatunde's fiction and poems have also been published in Africa, Europe, and America; is also a winner of the Meridian Tragic Love Story Competition organised by the BBC World Service and his plays have been staged and presented by institutions which include the Halcyon Theatre, Chicago and the Institute for Contemporary Arts. 



He lives in Ibadan, Nigeria and becomes the fourth Nigerian to win the prestigious prize. He is currently taking part in a collaboratively produced piece at the Royal Court and the Young Vic as part of World Stages for a World City.

- Your Pal

More on the web

Bombay's Republic by Rotimi Babatunde

Related

Nigerian wins Caine Prize for African Writing

Rotimi Babatunde wins 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing

Nigerian author wins 13th Caine Prize for African Writing

Babatunde 4th Nigerian to win Caine Prize for African Writing