L-R: Hussani Abdulrahim, Oluwatoke Adejoye, Ola W. Halim, Dawn Immanuel
Four Nigerian writers have been shortlisted for the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, administered by the Commonwealth Foundation and is one of the most prestigious literature prizes globally. The panel of judges has shortlisted 25 writers from 14 countries, selected from 7,806 entries across 54 Commonwealth countries. Five regional winners, each representing one Commonwealth region, will be announced on Wednesday, 13 May. The overall winner will be announced in late June.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from any of the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries. The shortlisted writers, 11 men and 14 women, range in age from 25 to 68.
Regional winners receive £2,500, and the overall winner receives £5,000. The shortlisted stories will be publi winning stories are published online by Granta and in a special print collection by Paper + Ink.
All in their early thirties, the shortlisted Nigerian writers include 31-year-old Hussani Abdulrahim from Kano, for his story ‘Arewa Girls’, Oluwatoke Adejoye, also 31 and now living in Vancouver, Canada, for her story ‘New Things’, 31-year-old writer and editor Dawn Immanuel from Ibadan, for her story ‘The God under the Bed’ and 30-year-old Ola W. Halim from Ekpoma, who was also shortlisted in 2021.
Seven writers are shortlisted from Africa.
Meet the shortlisted Nigerian writers below:
Hussani Abdulrahim – Shortlisted for Arewa Girls
Hussani Abdulrahim is a Nigerian writer. He was shortlisted for the 2024 ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award. He won the 2023 Writivism Prize, the 2022 Toyin Falola Prize, and WRR’s 2016 Green Author Prize. He was longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2023. His work has appeared in Boston Review, Evergreen Review, Ubwali Lit Mag, ZamaShort, and The Flame Tree Writers Workshop Anthology. Hussani lives in Kano, Nigeria.
Dawn Immanuel – Shortlisted for The God under the Bed
Dawn Immanuel is a Nigerian writer and editor based in Ibadan. Driven by curiosity and random thoughts in the shower, she tells fiction and nonfiction stories of bold people, and of those who cannot tell their own. Dawn is also the founder of Patchwork Quilt, an end-to-end book production studio. “The God under the Bed” is her debut short story.
Ola W. Halim – Shortlisted for Shock Me I Shock You
Ola W. Halim is a 2022 fellow of the Literary Laddership for Emerging African Authors. His work appears in SmokeLong Quarterly, Fractured Lit, Lolwe, Iskanchi, adda, The Forge, and the Best Small Fictions 2024. His short story, An Analysis of a Fragile Affair, was shortlisted for the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. A finalist for the Gerald Kraak Prize 2022, his stories have received the Pushcart and Caine Prize nominations.
Oluwatoke Adejoye – Shortlisted for New Things
Oluwatoke Adejoye is a Nigerian-born writer whose work has appeared in Harvard’s Transition Magazine, Room Magazine, The New Quarterly, and elsewhere. A lawyer by training with a professional background in film and publishing, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She lives and works in Metro Vancouver, Canada.
Find the full list of the shortlisted writers here.
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