Nigerian Author Tope Folarin Wins Caine Prize

Nigerian writer Tope Folarin has been announced as the winner of this year's Caine Prize for African Writing.

The U.S.-based author scooped the accolade -- which has been described as Africa's leading literary award for his short story "Miracle," a tale of faith and deceit in an evangelical Nigerian church in Texas.

"Winning feels tremendous -- I still can't believe it," enthused the 31-year-old author. "I feel like I'm walking on air."

Folarin spent a year writing the story, which explores the relationship between a blind pastor-prophet and his faithful congregation. "It's a community I know quite well," he explained. "'Miracle' does have an autobiographical quality to it, because the dreams and desires described are ones I share as a writer in the Nigerian diaspora."

The Washington D.C.-based author, who was born and raised in the U.S. but lived in Nigeria for a year, said that fellow members of the community had responded well to his story. But striking the right tone had its challenges. "I spent a long time trying to get a particular voice down, and that was the greatest technical difficulty I had when writing the novel," Folarin said.

The decision was announced at the 14th Caine Prize ceremony, held Monday night at Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, where Folarin beat his four fellow shortlisted candidates. Three of the other contenders were Nigerian, as was last year's prize winner, Rotimi Babatunde.