NoViolet Bulawayo wins the Best of Caine award

The special recognition Best of Caine Award marks 25 years of the annual Caine Prize for African Writing. Bulawayo first won in 2011.

- By Tinashe Mushakavanhu

An esteemed panel of judges unanimously selected NoViolet Bulawayo as the standout winner of the 25 stories awarded the prize so far.

Her short story, Hitting Budapest, won the prize in 2011. She has gone on to publish two acclaimed novels, We Need New Names and Glory. Both were shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

For me as a scholar of African literary cultures, Bulawayo's recognition by the judges feels like a generational milestone. Hitting Budapest follows a band of children wandering in a decaying urban landscape in search of food. Their journey, told through a fractured, childlike voice, captures both the immediacy of child's play and the stark realities of deprivation.

The story's unsettling blend of innocence and brutality provoked lively debate when it appeared. It raised questions about the aesthetics of the African literature the prize sought to celebrate. About whether its power lived in its inventive narration and perspective, or whether it leaned too easily into global appetites for African suffering and spectacle.

But there was never any doubt about Bulawayo's singular talent. She's today known for her virtuoso ability with language and her sharp eye for the textures of African life.

The author

NoViolet Bulawayo, the pen name of Elizabeth Tshele, was born in 1981 in Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe. She grew up in the city of Bulawayo, from which she takes part of her literary name. “NoViolet” is in honour of her late mother, Violet. She later moved to the US, where she studied and began her writing career.

In 2013, her debut novel, We Need New Names, announced her arrival as a major talent. Its sharp social observation, childlike candour and lyrical experimentation made it both accessible and unsettling. Her Caine Prize story makes up the first chapter of this book.

A decade later,