Launch of Water the latest Short Story Day Africa collection

Water is the third collection of short stories to be published by Short story day Africa. This carefully curated anthology of twenty-one stories is harvested from entries to the project’s annual short story competition, the Short story day Africa prize, which in 2015 called for short fiction exploring the theme of Water. The collection includes well-known and award-winning authors Cat Hellisen, Fred Khumalo, Pede Hollist, Mary Okon Ononokpono, Donald Molosi and Louis Greenberg alongside emerging stars Megan Ross, Dayo Ntwari, Louis Ogbere and Alexis Teyie. The theme has been interpreted in most exciting ways. Bodies of water are settings for pieces like Efemia Chela’s exquisite “The lake Retba murder” in which a body of a local woman is found floating in the picturesque, pink-coloured lake; or Mary Okon Ononokpono’s historical “Inyang”, which retraces the importance waterways played in the slave trade. The scarcity and inaccessibility of water as well as the politics involved are explored in Louis Greenberg’s intriguing and linguistically innovative “Oasis”. It is one of a few stories which play with elements of speculative fiction, magic realism or fantasy. The most daring of these is the incredible “Mother’s milk” in which Dayo Ntwari creates a fantastical, futuristic world that is a fascinating reflection of our times.