Nigeria's Rotimi Babatunde wins Caine writing prize

Ibadan, Nigeria, 04 Jul – (ANA) - Nigerian writer Rotimi Babatunde has won this year's prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing.

The £ 10,000 ($ 15,700) prize was given for his story Bombay's Republic about Nigerian soldiers who fought in the Burma campaign during World War II.

"It is about liberation and how a character can have his world widened," Mr Babatunde said.

He was among five writers short-listed for the prize, regarded as Africa's leading literary award. The chair of judges, Bernardine Evaristo, presented the award at a dinner held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford on Monday evening. Afterwards Mr Babatunde said he felt happy to have his story recognised and privileged to have been on such a strong and diverse shortlist. Mr Babatunde, who currently lives in Ibadan in Nigeria, will now be given the opportunity to go to Georgetown University in the US, as a writer-in-residence for a month at the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice. He said he was now working on a novel about migration, choice and love. (ANA)

FA/ANA/04 July 2012--------------