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The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2000, the Pound sterling10,000 prize was named in memory of businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Harris Caine, former chairman of Booker Group and of the Booker Prize management committee. The Caine Prize is sometimes referred to as the "African Booker".Alison Flood, "'African Booker' shortlist offers an alternative view of continent", The Guardian, 1 May 2012. The Chair of the Board is Ellah Wakatama, appointed in 2019.
Between 2020 and 2022 it was styled as the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing due to a three-year grant from Nicolai Tangen's AKO Foundation.
The prize was first awarded in 2000, to the writer Leila Aboulela for her short story "The Museum", at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in Harare. In its first year the Caine Prize attracted entries from 20 African countries.
Historically, the winner was announced at a dinner in July, at an event formerly held in Oxford but more recently at SOAS, University of London, "2018 Caine Prize for African Writing returns to SOAS next month", SOAS, University of London, 25 June 2018. to which the shortlisted candidates were all invited. This formed part of a week of activities for the candidates, including readings, book signings and press opportunities.
In 2024, the Caine Prize declared that it would "re-centre" itself on the African continent, with a planned year-long celebration of the prize’'s 25th anniversary in 2025. Proposed events include readings and discussions involving the shortlisted writers and past winners, and tributes to writers such as the late Charles Mungoshi (Zimbabwe), who was shortlisted in 2000, and the late Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya), who won the award in 2002.
The Caine Prize also arranges writers' workshops that are held in a different African country each year.
To honor the anniversary, the prize also established the Best of Caine award, an honorary prize recognizing the best short story from all previous Caine Prize winners across the last 25 years.
Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo was announced as the winner of the Best of Caine award on September 27, 2025, at the inaugural Words Across Waters: Afro Lit Fest at the British Library in London. Bulawayo won the prize for her story "Hitting Budapest," which originally won the Caine Prize in 2011. The story, which follows a group of children sneaking into an affluent neighborhood to steal fruit, was praised by the judges for its "powerful language, distinctive tone of voice, and bold, compelling storytelling."
The judging panel for the honorary award was chaired by Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, and included novelist and short story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi and film producer Tony Tagoe. Bulawayo described the achievement as a "defining highlight" that affirmed her literary path and strengthened her commitment to writing.
The five African winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have supported the Caine Prize as patrons: Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Naguib Mahfouz, J. M. Coetzee and Abdulrazak Gurnah. Sir Michael's widow, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, was founding president of the council and Jonathan Taylor was the first Chair, with Nick Elam the first administrator.
In 2019, a story was removed from the shortlist after "an allegation" led to admission of "the author's failure to attribute a core source", i. e. Laleh Khadivi's 2014 story.
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