African Authors Shine at O. Henry Short Fiction

Zambian writer Jacob M’hango and Nigerian writers Pemi Aguda and Arinze Ifeakandu are the only three African authors among the 20 winners that have been awarded the 2023 O. Henry Prize for short fiction with: The Mother, by Jacob M’hango,  The Hollow, by Pemi Aguda and  Happy Is a Doing Word, by Arinze Ifeakandu.

The prize, named after the famous American short story writer O. Henry, was founded in 1919 to select 20 short stories of exceptional merit every year from US and Canadian magazines. The selected works are then published in an annual anthology: The Best Short Stories 2023: The O Henry Prize Winners, edited by Lauren Groff, in September.