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Talented writer, Makena Onjerika has won the Caine Prize for Africn Writing in its 2018 edition for her short story named “Fanta Blackcurrant” held in the Senate House in partnership with SOAS and the Centre for African Studies. The Caine African Prize is often reffered to as Africa’s leading Literary Award.
Makena was announced on Monday 2nd 2018 as the winner with the cash prize of 10,000 Euro (Sh1.3 million) by the Award-Winning Novelist and Writer, Dinaw Mengestu. Dinaw Mengestu praised the book explaining how original and truly descriptive Makena was with her choice of words.
Makena, who lives in Nairobi, Kenya, is a graduated from the MFA Creative Writing Programme at the New York University.
The novel, “Fanta Blackcurrant” which follows through the story of a protagonist, Meri, who roams the street of Nairobi, making money off her charisma and intelligence. Because of the inability to secure a job, Meri went into prostitution and became pregnant. She eventually went into the business of stealing from people which led to self banishment from Nairobi.
