Announcing the 2025 Iskanchi Book Prize Shortlist

This year, we received more submissions than last year, with exceptional manuscripts coming in from across the African continent. The sheer potential and diversity in our submission pile made the task of selecting a shortlist of ten incredibly difficult. We are convinced now, more than ever, that a new wave of thematically and stylistically diverse fiction has emerged, as writers experiment with different genres and explore controversial themes. This shortlist reflects some of the most genre-bending and boundary-pushing fiction on the continent.

The Iskanchi Book Prize aims to expand the definition of African literature and amplify perspectives that take risks with form, play with language, and defy expectations of African storytelling. The writing on this shortlist experiments boldly, disrupting assumptions about what makes a story pleasurable or political. Some of these narratives evoke the idea of the novel, anticipates it, resembles it, but ultimately rejects its classic form. The grand prize winner will receive $1000 and publication in Fall 2026. We believe this year’s winner will reveal a diverse kind of audience and carve out a market of its own. 

Join us in congratulating the shortlisted authors on this remarkable achievement! Read more about them below; 

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 Xabanisa by Aryan Kaganof (South Africa)

Aryan Kaganof is the curator and editor of the South African cultural journal Herri (https://herri.org.za/10/) winner of the National Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Best Digital publication of 2025 for the issue on African Psychology Guest Edited by Prof Kopano Ratele.

On Rainy Days I Think of Flowers by Ezioma Kalu (Nigeria)

Ezioma Kalu is a fast-rising Nigerian writer and book influencer who works in the Media/Comms industry. She also works as a Researcher and Associate Producer at News Central TV. Her works have appeared on some online literary platforms like Isele Magazine, Afritondo, Efiko, Kalahari Review, Writers Space Africa - Nigeria, Terror House Magazine, Libretto Magazine, African Writer Magazine, One Black Boy Like That Blog, Livina Press, and elsewhere. Kalu writes from Lagos, Nigeria. Her essay, This is How I Think of You, made it to Isele Magazine's top essays of 2024. And she was longlisted for the 2024 John Okafor Prize for humor writing.

The Hollow Sound of Lightweight Bodies by Unathi Slasha (South Africa)

Unathi Slasha is a South African poet, novelist, short story writer, polemicist, and literary scholar from Despatch. His work reimagines and subverts Nguni folklore to write the Unlanguaged World. An appellation he coined to think and write about those lived moments and images in black life that are resistant to the inherited and limited literary language. He is the author of the novella Jah Hills (Black Ghost Books, 2017; CLASH Books, 2019), which was nominated for both a 2019 Nommo novel award and a 2020 Nommo novella award. His creative and critical work has appeared in New Coin, New Contrast, Mail & Guardian, herri, TYHINI, and New Orleans Review.

Souls of Independence by Peter Ngĩla Nzeli (Kenya)

Peter Ngĩla Nzeli is a Kenyan full-time novelist born in Machakos town and brought up in Kabaa village – Kenya. Ngĩla (writing as Peter Ngila Njeri) is the winner of the 2023 James Currey Prize for African Literature for The Legend of Beach House, a magical realism novel that was named in Afrocritik’s Notable Books from Africa in 2024. Peter’s novel manuscript based on Kamba mythology, The Spirits of April, made the 2024 Ibua Manuscript Project longlist. Ngĩla is a recipient of an Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award and an Ebedi International Writers Residency Fellow. Peter is a past judge of the James Currey Prize for African Literature and the Afrocritik Prize for Criticism. Ngĩla’s futuristic novel manuscript, Souls of Independence, was recently shortlisted for the 2025 Iskanchi Book Prize. Peter recently finished slaving away at a new novel manuscript titled, Butterflies. He lives with his plants in a small sanctuary near Nairobi.

Mono: Tales of the Tapa Kingdom by  Valerie Chatindo (Zimbabwe)

Valerie Tendai Chatindo is a biochemistry graduate, writer, and communications consultant. She’s a regular contributor for The Kalahari Review, Enthuse Magazine, The Diplomat Zimbabwe and EarGround. Her work has also appeared in Pink Disco Magazine, Creepy Pod, Agbowo, Argyl Literary Magazine, The Afterpast Review, Whisper House Press, Omenana, Efiko Magazine, Writer’s Space, and Literary Yard. Her short story “Sheba,” was shortlisted for the African Cradle African Heroines literary prize, and her pieces were featured in Povo Afrika’s Nehanda Reimagined anthology. The twenty-nine-year-old resides in Harare, Zimbabwe with her cat, Muffins. She runs her own Literary Platform, Shumba Literary Magazine.

A Season for Mending – Magaret Muthee (Kenya)

Margaret Muthee is a writer from Kenya. Her short stories have been published by One Throne Magazine, Lawino Magazine, Brittle Paper, and Agbowo Magazine. She has published various children’s books with Nabu.org. and StorymojaAfrica. Margaret’s short story, ‘Finding Home,’ was one of the stories that inspired Maimouna Jallow’s highly acclaimed film ‘Tales of the Accidental City.’ Margaret Muthee is currently an MFA in Creative Writing student at Portland State University. She enjoys organizing literary events and hopes to get more published in the future. 

Nandi Bear  by Abenea Ndago (Kenya)

Abenea Ndago is a Kenyan writer/scholar.

Mourning by  Karen Williams (South Africa)

Karen Williams is a South African journalist who has worked in conflict zones in Africa and Asia. She was a longtime contributor to the Media Diversified (MD) website(https://mediadiversified.org/category/indian-ocean-slavery/) and is currently researching Indian Ocean slavery between Africa and Asia. Her fiction, academic work, and journalism have been published in South Africa, Britain, and the United States, including in: Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire; At the Rendezvous of Victory (anthology) edited by Andries Oliphant; The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction (anthology) edited by Naomi Holoch and Joan Nestle; The Invisible Ghetto ( anthology) edited by Matthew Krouse; Sinister Wisdom and Common Lives/Lesbian Lives.  

The Black Hand – Dafe Great (Nigeria)

Dafe Great is a young Nigerian lawyer, and writer. Being the first child of his family, he has always been disposed to being the voice of his younger siblings. This trait has, however, transcended his life as an individual and has become second nature to him. He has been writing since his primary school days but only decided to give his writing expression a few years ago. His debut play, YAWN OF THE VOID was featured on Lolwe Magazine. He has also been featured in The Kalahari Review and HisRule Publication, where he was a contributor for a pretty long time. In 2024, his collection of short stories, GOD IS NOT PUZZLED was published with Emergence Publishers. He infuses wit and satire into his writing while demonstrating how much contemporary themes like love, betrayal, and kindness can make or mar us. THE BLACK HAND is his debut novel.

Enchanted Village by Lauwo wa Lauwo (Tanzania)

Lauwo wa Lauwo is a fiction writer with three completed novels. His Swahili novel Damu Nzito won fourth place in the 2025 Mwalimu Nyerere Creative Writing Competition. His debut novel, Fineland, was shortlisted for both the Iskanchi Book Prize (Nigeria) and Botsotso Publishing (South Africa). Fineland was also selected for the BIPOC Writers Connect conference in 2020, organized by The Writers’ Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets, and earlier for the 2018 Writing the Novel mentorship by the Mawazo Africa Writing Institute. His second novel, No Place I’d Rather Be, is currently under consideration for publication, while his third, Enchanted Village, is a work of African fantasy. His short story, The Isale Tree, was published by the Vancouver Writers Fest. Lauwo is originally from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, and holds a Master’s degree in Intercultural Communication from Finland. His academic background enriches his writing with deep intercultural insights. 

Finally, we are grateful to every writer who considered us a good place to submit their manuscript, we hope you’ll consider us again next year. The winner announcement will take place via a virtual event in June. Stay tuned for more details on how to register.