4thWrite short story prize goes to ‘bold and striking new voice’ Gift Nyoni
Award for the best new black and minority ethnic writers in the UK goes to Zimbabwe-born author for his story of a boy meeting his father for the first time
- Read The Ritual Seat of the King by Gift Nyoni below
Gift Nyoni has won the 2021 4thWrite prize for his short story The Ritual Seat of the King, a “wise, subtle and intimate” look at how the life of a young boy changes as the Rhodesian civil war comes to an end.
The Zimbabwe-born Nyoni’s winning entry follows David, a boy whose father has been absent for years, and whose mother has been receiving “visitors” in his absence. After the war ends, and Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe, his father returns home but his homecoming is not what David anticipated. Nyoni, a trainee solicitor at a London firm, beat five other shortlisted authors, including Sulaxana Hippisley and Laura Blake, to win the award, which is run jointly by the Guardian and publisher 4th Estate. It aims to find the best new writers from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds based in the UK.
