The Caine Prize is one of the most coveted and prestigious awards that writers from the African continent can hope to achieve in their careers. Winners such as Monica Arca de Nyeko, Brian Chikwava and Binyavanga Wainaina have gone on to become some of the most celebrated wordsmiths of our times. Imagine not winning this award once but twice. Zimbabwe’s NoViolet Bulawayo can brag of this honour. She won the prize in 2011 for her story “Hitting Budapest” and a week ago in the 2025 ‘Best of Caine Award’, an honorary award celebrating twenty-five year of the award. 

Born Elizabeth Zandile Tshele, Bulawayo was born in Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe a little after the nation gained independence. She attended Njube High School and later Mzilikazi High School for her A-levels. She earned her bachelors and masters degrees in English from Texas A&M University and the Southern Methodist University. In 2010 she earned an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University. Bulawayo had her short story “Hitting Budapest” published in the Boston Review and then submitted for the Caine Prize for African short stories. She took home the top prize and the short story became the opening chapter of her debut novel “We Need New Names” published to great fanfare in 2013.

The book follows the journey of Darling whom we first meet at age ten when she sneaks of with her friends from the township they grow up in to pick guavas in the affluent suburb of Budapest. Later on in the novel, we follow Darling who has now relocated to the United States and lives with an aunt who is working there. The book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won awards from the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. When I first read the book I was startled by Bulawayo’s honesty and her willingness to delve into topics often left unsaid. 

2022 saw the release of her sophomore title “Glory” which details the degradation of a society which is run by animals (akin to Orwell’s “Animal Farm”). The novel was inspired by the 2017 coup which saw the removal of Zimbabwe’s long-ruling President Mugabe and reportedly took three years for her to write. Her nomination for the 2022 Booker Prize consequently made her the first black African woman to appear on the Booker list twice. 

Bulawayo currently works as a faculty member at the ivy-league Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She is a Wallace Stegner Fellow and has been hailed as the most translated Zimbabwean writer of our time. Her glowing accomplishments are evident of her daring and unique voice. Her writing is a true gift not only to her nation but also the world of literature at large.