Mehring is rich. He has all the privileges and possessions that South Africa has to offer, but his possessions refuse to remain objects. His wife, son and mistress leave him; his foreman and workers become increasingly indifferent to his stewardship; even the land rises up, as drought, then flood, destroy his farm. As the upheaval in Mehring's world increasingly resembles that in the country as a whole, it becomes clear that only a seismic shift in...

"Erudite, ambitious Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the schutztruppe askari, the Germans' colonial troops; after years at war, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away. Hamza was not stolen, but was sold; he has come of age in the schutztruppe, at the right hand of an officer whose zeal and control have ensured his protection but marked him for life. He does not have words for how the war ended for him,...

"The leading African literary award, known as the African Booker, named after the Booker Prize founder, Michael Caine. Now entering its nineteenth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africas leading literary prize, and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. This collection brings together twelve short storiesthe five 2018 shortlisted stories, along with others written at the...

The Hay Festival brings its 39 Project to Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to identify the most promising writing talents under the age of 40 from Sub-Saharan Africa and its diaspora. From the list of 39 writers chosen by the judges, editor Allfrey has selected stories, extracts from novels, and other writings, many never before published, to create a collection of some of the most varied and exciting new work in world literature.