Caine Prize Fiction Friday: “La Salle de Depart” by Melissa Tandiwe Myambo
Zimbabwean writer Melissa Tandiwe Myambo is one of the five shortlistees for the 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing.
Myambo is up against Kenya’s Billy Kahora, Nigeria’s Rotimi Babatunde, Malawi’s Stanley Kenani and South Africa’s Constance Myburgh for the £10 000 prize, the winner of which will be announced on 2 July.
Last week we featured Kenani’s short story “Love on Trial”. Now we invite you to read Myambo’s shortlisted story “La Salle de Départ”, originally published in Vol 4.2 of Prick of the Spindle:
Like so many omens, she had missed its significance at the time. Three years ago, Ibou had sent home a photo of his fancy business school friends in America. The thickish envelope had arrived after a long silence and Fatima had not felt the slightest presentiment as she pierced the envelope with a kitchen knife and withdrew the typed pages. She went outside to read the precious letter to Father.
The old man was ensconced under the mango tree, sitting on a short stool, leaning against the trunk’s rough bark. His habitual gray boubou with swirly, yellow embroidery up the front was unraveling at the collar but billowed out grandly at his sides. Because he had been educated in Koranic School, he found it easier to read Arabic than French but these days, he couldn’t read much of anything because his vision was dimming with the advancing years. From a distance his eyes almost appeared blue, the dark irises encircled by rings of gray and the cornea covered by a film of translucent gel. Of late, those rheumy, shimmery eyes could only make out general shapes and so it was usually up to Babacar or another nearby grandchild to read him the tiny print of the daily newspapers.
- Keep reading (pdf download)
Book details
- To See the Mountain and Other Stories by The Caine Prize For African Writing
EAN: 9781431402045
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- A Life in Full and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2010 by The Caine Prize for African Writing
EAN: 9781906523374
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- 10 Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing by The Caine Prize For African Writing
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EAN: 9781906523244
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- Work in Progress and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2009 by The Caine Prize For African Writing
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EAN: 9781770097506
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- Jambula Tree and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2008 by The Caine Prize For African Writing
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EAN: 9781904456735
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- Jungfrau and Other Stories: The Caine Prize for African Writing 2007 by The Caine Prize For African Writing
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EAN: 9781770093676
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- Discovering Home: A selection of Works from the Caine Prize for African Writing 2002 by The Caine Prize for African Writing
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EAN: 9781919931555
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Apr
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