Prizing African literature: creating a literary taste

Abstract

This paper explores the significant role played by international literary awards in African literary canon formation. It focuses on the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (CWSSP) and the Caine Prize for African Writing (CP) as major award institutions for contemporary African literatures. The paper aims to position these prize competitions in the context of African literary and cultural production by foregrounding the intricate relationship between the text and the award institutions to point at the different roles they each play in the process of canon formation. It argues that canonicity through the award sector is influenced by several factors from the point of production to the presentation of the literary award. The paper uses the word “taste” to refer to the aesthetic qualities of a text as prescribed by the literary award. It then explores the process of this judgement of the aesthetic qualities of the prize texts, exploring factors such as economic and political patronage and its effects in literary taste creation. It concludes that taste in literary production, mediated through the institution of the award industry, is significantly influenced by the economic, political and cultural contexts of production.