麻豆社

Author Idza Luhumyo, has just won the 2022 Caine Prize for African Writing. She is now the fifth Kenyan in recent years to have picked up the prestigious award which aims to bring African writing to a wider audience.

Her winning short story, Five Years Next Sunday, is about a young woman who has the power to call the rain in her hair. The judges described it as an 鈥渋ncandescent story鈥�, which used 鈥渆xquisite language.鈥�

Idza Luhumyo spoke to Focus on Africa's Karnie Sharp about the inspiration for her work and how she felt when her name was announced as the winner. But first she read from her story, which opens with a beautiful description of hair.

Photo: Idza Luhumyo. Credit: AKO Caine Prize.