A Nigerian writer and critic, Akinwande Jordan, has made the 2026 Caine Prize for Creative Writing shortlist.

Mr Jordan made the shortlist with his entry “So Long Now It’s Starting To Look Like Eternity.”

He was announced alongside Kenyan Gladwell Pamba, Cameroonian Melara Mvogdobo, Zimbabwean Simbarashe Kundizeza and Egyptian Yasmine Zohdi.

Chairman of judges, Bola Mosuro, congratulated the writers who made it to the shortlist.

“These five shortlisted stories stood out with their originality. Each author packed a powerful punch in their storytelling with tales that were poignant, shocking, moving and even quirky,” Ms Mosoro stated.

Mr Jordan is a writer, editor and critic whose works oscillate between cinema, literature, culture and politics. 

He is known for writing that reflects and contests the social worlds that produce it. His criticism and essays have appeared in The 49th Street Magazine, What Kept Me Up, Saharan Style, Screen in Transit and Black Film Wire.

Th Caine Prize was launched in 2000 and has stood at the centre of African literature, celebrating the short story as a form, and the writers reshaping how the world reads the continent.