I always get very excited about book prizes. Here’s one I always follow closely.

Something lovely (and no longer embargoed) jumped into my inbox while I was having another long and semi-stressful day. Five writers, chosen from 6,642 entrants, have been announced as regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Judges hailed the “impressive” ambition of stories which show “mastery of the craft.” The youngest winner is 20-year-old South African Hana Gammon! And for the first time there were entries from Togo and Gabon.

Congratulations to all the regional winners! And of course to the Jamaican winner of the Caribbean prize, Kwame McPherson for his story, “Ocoee.” The Commonwealth Foundation describes his story as “an interweaving of African American reality and history, and Caribbean folklore.” Ocoee is named after a town in Florida where, in November 1920, a group of African Americans were massacred…