Caine Prize for African Writing 2023 Stories
Title: The Tangible Thing
Author: Yejide Kilanko
Country: Nigeria
Yejude Kilanko
Credit: www.caineprize.com
The
Tangible Thing is yet another powerful entry for the 2023 circle of the Caine
Prize for African Story. It is scripted by a Nigerian, Yejide Kilanko.
This
Tangible Thing is a story of a Nigerian man who travelled home with his
daughter that was born in Canada but never visited Nigeria. She is a girl with
an identity crisis, given the racial bias, she suffers in Canada, where her
schoolmates refer to her as “a joke” –her name is Ajoke. At the same time, she
is a girl who never travelled to Nigeria to understand the culture and feel
Nigerian.
Father
travels home to Southwestern Nigeria with his daughter. A mistake that led to
the late arrival of luggage compels dad to return to Lagos. The daughter is left
with granny. While they await the return of the father, Grandma uses the chance
to get her granddaughter conversant with the Yoruba culture through folktales,
a history of the family, and everyday family rituals of the Yorubas.
The
story plays the Yoruba firmness of upholding the culture and a strong family
discipline that is typical of educated Yoruba families.
The
author creates imageries using simple words, albeit in a very creative manner.
However, it is common for an African to take a child home to enable him to learn
about his roots. It happens a lot of times. Thus, it introduces a tone of
ambiguity between fiction and reality.
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