Short Story Day Africa

A celebration of African short fiction. Wednesday 20 June 2012.

For you short story lovers out there, here's something interesting, a way to get involved in the celebration of African short stories. For the ethos of the project, here (below) is what the website states:

Last year on June 21st, the shortest day of the year, we invited you to participate in Short Story Day South, a region-wide celebration of short fiction. This year on June 20th, Short Story Day goes global as once again we encourage everyone of all ages and all genders to do something in honour of the short story. This could be absolutely anything, from running a creative workshop or class, a competition, making a short film or film adaptation of a short story, organising a spoken word night, a reading, an author appearance, a literary salon, or simply picking up a short story and enjoying it, for maybe the first or the hundredth time.

Whatever it is you’re doing, we want to hear about it! Send us details of your event to info@shortstorydayafrica.org, a link to your website (if applicable), and any images you have, and we’ll put it on the brand new Short Story Day website, where you can also find videos of live readings, short story recommendations, and more.

You can also participate just by following Short Story Day Africa on Twitter and Facebook. Read the press release here.

1001 Short Stories You Must Read Before You Die

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Over at his blog C. B. James is compiling a list of 1001 short stories some of which can be read online, such as A Simple Soul by Gustave Flaubert and Eyes of a Blue Dog by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Now, the list is unfinished, Mr James has (at the time of this post) only listed 383 stories. We noticed that the South African Nobel Laureates Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee both have one story on the list, and that's as far as the African continent is represented.

Here's a description of the project in C. B. James' own words:

1001 Short Stories You Must Read Before You Die is an on-going project devoted to listing not just the best short stories, but the ones actual readers think other readers should read. You'll find most of the great classic short stories listed below along with some you've never heard of. They're all on this list because somebody out there loves them.

Ekbal Baraka [L], Nadine Gordimer [M] and Lola Shoneyin

The highlighted phrases are the main reason for this blog post. We are convinced that there exist a good number of short stories by African writers that deserve to be on the list, and it is up to YOU, the reader, to name these stories in the comments section of the blog. The question you however need to put to yourself before dropping a comment is: Which GREAT short story do I think other readers must read before they die? Answer that question honestly, and then rest easy knowing that your reading taste has been reflected. Regardless of whether the story you chose was written by an African writer.

Looking forward to seeing your choices. You can also name them in the comments of this post.