Adam El Shalakany has won the 2018 Short Story Day Africa Prize for his short story, “Happy City Hotel.”
Short Story Day Africa was established to celebrate the diversity of Africa’s voices, it has published six anthologies (with the seventh in progress) and 122 writers. Short Story Day Africa recognises short story writers across the African continent. Previous winners of Short Story Day Africa Prize include; Tochukwu Emmanuel Okafor (2018), Sibongile Fisher (2016), Cat Hellisen (2015), Diane Awerbuck (2014), and Okwiri Oduor (2013).
The 2018 edition of the prize followed the general theme of “Hotel Africa” with the longlist being announced on March 4 followed by a shortlist of ten on July 4.
Adam El Shalakany’s winning story was described as one which “features a small and shabby hotel in Cairo, and a cast of strangely endearing characters, but everyone who read it said it made them “happy”; which, given that it features very ordinary people living somewhat melancholy lives, is testament to how deeply it resonates with the reader.”
Hotel Africa: New Short Fiction featuring those who were shortlisted is now available as an ebook in Africa.
