Shadreck Chikoti (born 7 October 1979) is a

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

an writer and social activist. Chikoti writes in both English and

Chichewa Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) is a Bantu language spoken in much of Southern, Southeast and East Africa, namely the countries of Malawi , where it is an official language, and Mozambique and Zambia. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for la ...

. His published works include ''Free Africa Flee!'' (2001) and ''Mwana wa Kamuzu'' (''The Son of Kamuzu'') (2010). His short story “The Beggar Girl” was included in the anthology ''Modern Stories from Malawi'' (2003), edited by Sambalikagwa Mvona. “The Baobab Tree,” for which he won third prize in the 2008 FMB/MAWU Literary Awards, was published in ''The Bachelor of Chikanda: And Other Stories'' (2009). Chikoti has received national and international recognition for his writing. In 2001, he received the Peer Gynt Literary Award for his short story, “The Trap.” In 2011, Chikoti was selected to attend the

Caine Prize The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...

African Writers’ Workshop in Cameroon, and the story he wrote while there, “Child of a Hyena,” was published in the Caine Prize 2011 anthology,
To See the Mountain and other Stories
'. Chikoti won the 2013 Peer Gynt Literary Award for his science fiction/fantasy novel ''Azotus the Kingdom'', published in Malawi by the Malawi Writers Union in 2015. In 2014, Chikoti was nominated by the

Africa39 Africa39 was a collaborative project initiated by the Hay Festival in partnership with Rainbow Book Club, celebrating Port Harcourt: UNESCO World Book Capital 2014 by identifying 39 of the most promising writers under the age of 40 with the potent ...

project as one "of the most promising 39 authors under the age of 40 from Sub-Saharan Africa and the diaspora." An excerpt from ''Azotus the Kingdom'' titled “The Occupant” was published in the Africa39 project anthology in October 2014. Chikoti is also the Director of Pan African Publishers and founder of The Story Club, which gathers writers, critics, and others to share and discuss literature by Malawian writers. The Story Club currently has two branches, one in

Lilongwe Lilongwe (, , ) is the capital and most populated city of the African country of Malawi. It has a population of 989,318 as of the 2018 Census, up from a population of 674,448 in 2008. In 2020 that figure was 1,122,000. The city is located in th ...

and the other in

Mzuzu Mzuzu is the capital of Malawi's Northern Region and is the third largest city by population in Malawi. The city has 221,272 residents and 20,000 commuters (Mzuzu University students) with about 1.7 million people in its metropolitan area. It i ...

References

Living people Malawian short story writers 1979 births Malawian novelists 21st-century male writers 21st-century Malawian writers {{Malawi-writer-stub