https://doi.org/10.1177/0021989418777840 COMMONWEAL TH LITERA TURE COMMONWEAL TH LITERA TURE THE JOURNAL OF The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 1–15 © The Author(s) 2018 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0021989418777840 journals.sagepub.com/home/jcl Imagining Africa’s futures in two Caine Prize-winning stories: Henrietta Rose- Innes’s “Poison” and NoViolet Bulawayo’s “Hitting Budapest” Aghogho Akpome University of Zululand, South Africa Abstract Since its launch in 1999, the annual Caine Prize for African short stories has assumed a dominant position on the continent’s literary landscape. It has been hailed for the exposure it provides for its winners who are mostly budding writers. Expectedly, it has also attracted stinging criticism, especially for what is perceived to be its legitimization of stereotypical narratives about Africa. In this article, I examine how the two winning entries of 2008 and 2011 represent contemporary African realities and in so doing reinforce the growing significance of the prize and the short story genre to modern African literary expression. I argue that, taken together, Henrietta Rose-Innes’ “Poison” (2007) and NoViolet Bulawayo’s “Hitting Budapest” (2010), both set in cities, contribute to problematic imaginings of African futures. Bulawayo does this through her representation of slum life and dystopian childhoods in Zimbabwe while Rose-Innes’s story speculates on the apocalyptic aftermath of a chemical explosion in post-apartheid South Africa. I highlight, also, how these two narratives reflect apparent relationships between the short story and the novel in contemporary African writing as well as the increasing role of the postcolonial city as a site from which unfavourable visions of postcolonial societies are generated. Keywords African futures, Caine Prize, dystopia, Henrietta Rose-Innes, NoViolet Bulawayo, postcolonial city, South Africa, Zimbabwe Introduction The annual Caine Prize for African short stories has assumed a dominant position on the continent’s literary landscape since it was established in 1999 by the British politician Corresponding author: Aghogho Akpome, Department of English, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa, 3886, South Africa. Email: aakpome@gmail.com 777840JCL 0 0 10.1177/0021989418777840The Journal of Commonwealth LiteratureAkpome research-article 2018 Article