Nigerian writer and critic, Akinwande Jordan, has been shortlisted for the 2026 Caine Prize for African Writing with his short story, ‘So Long Now It’s Starting To Look Like Eternity, published in the anthology A House That’s Not A Home, edited by Haliru Ali Musa and Kingsley Alumona.
The anthology was published in February 2026 by Naira Books, an imprint of Nigerian-based publishing firm, Naira Publishers.
Jordan is among five writers selected from 407 entries submitted from 27 African countries. The selection covers a diverse range of African literary voices and represents the return of open submissions following the Prize’s 25th anniversary celebration in 2025.
The other shortlisted writers are Kenya’s Gladwell Pamba for ‘The Last Shop’; Cameroon’s Melara Mvogdobo for ‘Dieu Merci’; Egypt’s Yasmine Zohdi for ‘The Absence of Stains’; and Zimbabwe’s Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza for ‘The Blue Fighter’.
‘So Long Now It’s Starting To Look Like Eternity’ follows the failing marriage of two University of Lagos mathematics and literature professors, and the communication and emotional undertones that complicate their lives.
Jordan revealed that the story was inspired by Jonathan Franzen’s ‘The Corrections’ and Ingmar Bergman’s ‘Scenes from a Marriage’.
“I’ll leave the significance of the story to readers. For me, it is an ode to, or portrait of, a Nigerian marriage and a critique of academic language and its inadequacies. Sometimes, words fail us. Language is insufficient; and vulnerability may be preferable to intellectual abstraction,” he said.
Bola Mosuro, Chair of Judges for the 2026 Prize, said the five stories distinguished themselves through their originality and powerful storytelling.
“These five shortlisted stories stood out with their originality,” Mosuro said, adding that the authors delivered stories that were “poignant, shocking, moving and even quirky.”
Susi Owusu, Interim Director of the Caine Prize, said the number of submissions made the selection process particularly demanding. “With over 400 submissions, it’s been an intense, but a hugely rewarding process,” she said, thanking the judging panel for narrowing the entries to the five shortlisted writers.
The Caine Prize Board of Trustees Chair, Ellah Wakatama OBE, also highlighted the role of publishers and editors in developing African literary works.
She said this year’s shortlist demonstrated the “growing diversity of Africa’s publishing landscape”, with works represented by independent publishers, literary journals, magazines, and newer fiction publishers.
According to Naira Books editor, Kingsley Alumona, the story immediately stood out because of its distinctive language and pace.
He said the work “reads like poetry” and takes readers into “an unfamiliar territory”, while exploring a complex theme faced by many married couples in contemporary society.
Jordan’s selection marks a notable recognition for Nigerian contemporary fiction.
Jordan is a Nigerian writer whose work cuts across cinema, literature, culture and politics. His writing examines how art reflects and challenges the societies that produce it, with particular interests in African cinema, popular culture, gender, power and the relationship between aesthetics and ideology. His criticism and essays have appeared in several publications, and he lives and writes in Nigeria.
The winner of the 2026 Caine Prize will be announced at a ceremony in London in October and will subsequently be celebrated and presented with the Prize in their country of origin.
The five shortlisted stories will also be published in the Prize’s annual anthology alongside stories developed during this year’s Caine Prize Workshop in Tanzania.
The Caine Prize for African Writing, founded in 2000, awards £10,000 to the best short story by an African writer living on the continent or in the diaspora.
The organisation also supports African writers through its online editing programme, annual writers’ workshop and publication of an anthology featuring shortlisted and workshop-developed stories.
