Okwiri Oduor Revealed

BY Zodwa Kumalo-Valentine

The 2014 Caine Prize winner for African Writing, Okwiri Oduor, earned the title for her short story My Father’s Head, which explores the narrator’s difficulty in dealing with the loss of her father.

Prior to the accolade, Oduor wrote ostensibly in obscurity. Up until recently, she had been writing under the pen name Claudette Oduor, a name she shed when she came to terms with the things she had been running from, namely what she calls her ugly name and her writing.

Some of her earlier works include The Red Bindi on Diwali, Tentacles of the Same Octopus, Children of the Dark and The Dream Chasers, which she told The New Enquiry is her worst book. Interestingly enough it was highly commended by the Commonwealth Book Prize in 2012.

Even the best writers live in constant doubt of the merit of their work and short stories are reputed to be the toughest writing form of them all. But what many enjoy of Oduor’s work is the rhythm and style, which is as slow, easy and haunting as it is bursting with spiritedness and colour.

Also shortlisted in the category: Diane Awerbuck (South Africa), ‘Phosphorescence’ in Cabin Fever (Umuzi); Efemia Chela (Ghana/Zambia), ‘Chicken’ in Feast, Famine and Potluck (Short Story Day Africa); Tendai Huchi (Zimbabwe), ‘The Intervention’ in Open Road Review (New Delhi) and Billy Kahora (Kenya), ‘The Gorilla’s Apprentice’ in Granta (London)

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