Jamaican writer Kwame McPherson has won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 for his story 'Ocoee'. He was announced as the winner of the £5,000 prize in an online ceremony on June 27, 2023.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is an annual award, given by the Commonwealth Foundation. This year's award ceremony was hosted by journalist Dionne Jackson Miller. The ceremony was attended by Bilal Tanweer- Chair of the judges 2023 and Pakistani writer, the international judging panel for this year, the five regional winners, and Ntsika Kota- winner of 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
McPherson's winning short story ‘Ocoee’ is a mix of Caribbean folklore and stories of African-American history. The story is about a driver, who is stopped by the police outside Ocoee. It is during this encounter that the driver gets to know about the tow's terrible history, which is surprisingly connected with his own.
Praising McPherson's story, Bilal Tanweer-- Chair of Judges and Pakistani writer, said, "'Ocoee' forces a reckoning with the challenge that confronts all writers in the postcolonial world: how to write about a world that has been destroyed without any traces. Kwame McPherson takes on the extraordinarily difficult challenge of writing about a past that has left no evidence of its existence. ‘Ocoee’’s accomplishment is how it achieves this thorny task with simplicity, humility, and real heart. It is a story that resonates deeply and leaves us with a glimpse of all the ghosts that continue to haunt the present, and, in the process, performs one of the most essential tasks of writing: to bear witness to our condition, and to remind us, again, what it means to be human."
This is the seventh time that McPherson entered the prize. His winning story was selected form 6,641 entries worldwide. Others shortlisted for this year's award included: Hana Gammon from Africa for 'The Undertaker's Apprentice'; Agnes Chew from Asia for 'Oceans Away From My Homeland'; Rue Baldry from Canada & Europe for 'Lech, Prince, and the Nice Things'; and Himali McInnes from Pacific for 'Kilinochchi'.
On winning the award, McPherson said, "When I began my writing journey, it was not a conscious decision, it was just something I enjoyed doing. Creating and imagining worlds, sharing occurrences and experiences that brought no end of joy in seeing a reader engage and find pleasure in what I have produced. Having the ability to provoke thought, interest or move a reader from one mental and emotional state to the next, is a skill within itself and one I have been blessedly bestowed with and do not take for granted. The culmination of that ability is where I am today, winning a prestigious award, not only for the Caribbean but for the entire Commonwealth. That is no mean feat. I am humbled since I stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before, especially those scribes, griots and storytellers of our story, fulfilling a purpose I now live, walk and breathe. I am extremely proud I have represented my many friends, family and, importantly, my country Jamaica, in the way that I have."
