We mustn’t make the mistake that Rotimi Babatunde is a newcomer. The winner of this year’s Caine Prize for African Literature has published in journals worldwide and has won prestigious prizes before. But for me the Nigerian writer who lives in Ibadan in his home country is a discovery. (Will this colonial explorer’s mentality in me ever die? Why do African writers only become existent after noticed by Western
Bombay’s Republic, Babatunde’s winning story is a MUST READ. It’s the wit, the majestic composition of a story beautifully told and last but certainly not least the sense of humour . According to the chair of judges, Bernardine Evaristo: “Bombay’s Republic vividly describes the story of a Nigerian soldier fighting in the Burma campaign of World War Two. It is ambitious, darkly humorous and in soaring, scorching prose exposes the exploitative nature of the colonial project and the psychology of Independence.” (Bart Luirink)
Full story at http://www.caineprize.com/pdf/2012_Babatunde.pdf