Nigerian-born Booker Prize winner Ben Okli was in conversation with Ghanaian publisher Margaret Busby at the African Centre in London on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
The opportunity was the launch of African Stories, an anthology of 36 stories selected by Okri, published as part of Everyman's Pocket Classics.
Speaking about the process of choosing authors, Okri, who won the Booker Prize for Ready-to-Made Roads in 1992, said, “In putting together this anthology, I focused on three things: excellence, the broad representation of continental writers, and by the time I was finished, there was no modern time there. We must respect the elders.”
He also spoke about the importance and superiority of short stories as an African art form.
“What is it about African short stories? It is poetic, debate and essayistic in nature. It is closest to enabling the richness of the African spirit, and it is the closest to the oral storytelling tradition of f-tales and folk tales.
The two awfully wreathed African literary figures thrilled the Full Room with their best hour-long language sparring sessions as Busby, editor of famous African anthology daughters and new African daughters.
“I'm passionate about short stories,” says the first collection of short stories, the first collection of events at the shrine, preordering his Booker Prize-winning novel in many ways.
“I was the first president of the Kane Awards. I have always loved short stories because I helped set up the Kane Awards.”
Commenting on the inclusion of the story of Jomo Kenyatta, the anthology's first prime minister and independent Kenya president, Okuri said, “I realized there was a connection between short stories and power. But it's a different story.”
Ben Okri read the opening line of Chinua Achebe's entry, highlighting his ability to condense both images and stories of short stories into one whole.
Busby raised relevant questions about the representation of women in a new anthology.
“36 stories by 36 writers. How many women are there?”
Eight female writers are represented in the anthology, with Nadine Goldimer and Doris Lessing (both Nobel Prize winners), Ama Ata Iad, Bessie Head, Grace Ogott, Clementine Nuj Madhya, Saiya Hagi Dilly Helji and Chimamanda Ngoji as the youngest authors in the collection.
“It's a slightly leaning question, an unfair question,” replied Ben Okli. He explained, “On behalf of all older writers, I want to put the African spirit on the world map.”
The evening ended with a presentation of the “African Centre Icon” award to Ben Okri by Oba Nsugbe, the centre chair.
