Nommo 2020: Short Story Nominations

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SHORT LIST NOMINEES

& ALL LONG LIST NOMINEES FOR 2020

Below are the Short List Nominees in each of the 4 categories and ALL respective nominees for the 2020 Nommo Awards:

Members are given the opportunity to read the following short listed novels online.  If you are a member of the ASFS please fill in the Nommo Reader Request Form (with relevant conditions) and submit. If you are an approved member, we will send through access details.

SHORT STORY SHORT LIST

TINY BRAVERY

Ada Nnadi

Ada Nnadi is presently studying for a Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Lagos. She has worked for Brittle Paper as a submissions editor. Her story ‘Tiny Bravery’ made the 2019 Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List for the short story category. She will one day be the mother of many cats —and a dog.

SIN EATER

Chikodili Emelumadu

Chikodili Emelumadu is a writer and broadcaster living in Brighton, East Sussex. She was nominated for a Shirley Jackson award in 2014 for her short story ‘Candy Girl’. She’s been published in Apex, One Throne, Eclectica and many other magazines and anthologies, including the collection African Monsters for which her story ‘Bush Baby’ was nominated for the Caine Prize for African Literature in 2017. She tweets as @chemelumadu.

BETWEEN THE DARK AND THE DARK 

Deji Bryce Olukotun

Deji Bryce Olukotun graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town, and also holds degrees from Yale College and Stanford Law School. He became the inaugural Ford Foundation Freedom to Write Fellow at PEN American Center, a human rights organization that promotes literature and defends free expression. His work has been published in Guernica, Joyland, Words Without Borders, World Literature Today, and Molussus.

PRINCIPLES OF BALANCE 

Ivana Akotowaa Ofori

Ivana Akotowaa Ofori is a Ghanaian storyteller. Self-styled as “The Spider Kid”, she is a weaver of words in many forms, including fiction, non-fiction and spoken-word poetry. She has been longlisted twice for the Writivism Prize, first for nonfiction and second for fiction. Some of her work appears in the Flash Fiction Ghana anthology, Kenkey for Ewes and Other Very Short Stories. When she is not reading or writing, she is likely to be raving online and in person about frustrations with school and life, or about her great love for the color purple.

THE HAUNTING OF 13 OLÚWO STREET

Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Suyi Davies Okungbowa is the author of David Mogo, Godhunter (Abaddon, 2019) and the forthcoming The Nameless Republic trilogy (Orbit, 2021). His fiction and essays have appeared in Tor.com, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, Fireside and other periodicals and anthologies. Find him at suyidavies.com and at @IAmSuyiDavies on Twitter 

WHEN WE DREAM WE ARE OUR GOD 

Wole Talabi

Wole Talabi won the 2018 Nommo Award for Best Speculative Short Fiction with ‘The Regression Test’.  He also won the Caine Reader’s Prize, related to the Caine Prize for his speculative story ‘Wednesday’s Story’.  

The long list consists of all titles in this category that were nominated by members of the ASFS.  Some of these works were nominated once, some just missed the shortlist.  The ASFS lists them in full to draw attention to all the works members felt worthy of consideration.

2020 SHORT STORY LONG LIST

Acan Innocent Immaculate

SONG BIRD

(Brittle Paper and Go the Way Your Blood Beats, anthology edited by Anathi Jongilanga, Brittle Paper)

Ada Nnadi

TINY BRAVERY (Omenana) 

Ama Josephine Budge

Ayodele Olufintuade

THE STORM PAINTER (Strange Horizons) 

Caldon Mull

REFUGIA (Omenana)

Chikodili Emelumadu

SIN EATER (Omenana) 

Chinelo Onwualu

Dare Segun Falowo

VAIN KNIFE (The Dark Magazine)

Deji Bryce Olukotun

Ekari Mbvundula

THE BLUE BALL  (Story Ink Africa)

Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald

IFE-IYOKU (Selene Quarterly)

Eugen Bacon

A PINING (StylusLit),

THE DAY CHIVALRY DIED (AntipodeanSF),

A GOOD BALL (Other Terrain Journal)

(all from the single-author anthology DYING AND OTHER STORIES)

Hannah Onoguwe

WHERE THE PALM NUT GROWS

(Timeworn Literary Journal)

Haku Jackson

THE SILENT GOD (Omenana)

Imade Iyamu

ODUDUWA: THE RETURN

(in anthology YOUNG EXPLORERS ADVENTURE GUIDE VOL 6 edited by Corie and Sean Weaver, Dreaming Robot Press)

Innocent Chizaram Ilo

Innocent Chizaram Ilo

RED CROWS (Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores)

Ivana Akotowaa Ofori

Kathleen Kayembe

Keletso Mopai

BECOMING A GOD (from the single-author anthology IF YOU KEEP DIGGING, BlackBird Books) (Omenana)

Keletso Mopai

FOURTEEN

(from single-author anthology IF YOU KEEP DIGGING, BlackBird Books)

Kofi Nyameye

THE LIGHTS GO OUT ONE BY ONE

(Asimovs Science Fiction) 

Lesley Arimah

SKINNED (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern)

Mame Bougouma Diene

Mame Bougouma Diene

Mandisi Nkomo

DROPZONE  (Mandisi Nkomo)

Mohale Mashigo

MUTSHIDZI

(anthology A WORLD OF HORROR edited by Eric J Guignard, Dark Moon Books) 

Nick Wood

A MILLION REASONS WHY

(from single-author collection LEARNING MONKEY AND CROCODILE, Luna Press)

Nikhil Singh

THE RE-EVOLUTION OF CLOUD 9

(from anthology THE UNQUIET DREAMER: A TRIBUTE TO HARLAN ELLISON edited by Preston Grassman, PS Publishing) 

Olufunke Ogundimu

IN-BETWEEN (Jalada)

Ope Adedeji

AFTER THE BIRDS (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern)

Osahon Ize-Iyamu

FLAGS FLYING BEFORE A FALL (Strange Horizons)

Osahon Ize-Iyamu

Osahon Ize-Iyamu

Osahon Ize-Iyamu

THEREIN LIES A SOUL (The Dark Magazine)

‘Pemi Aguda

MANIFEST 11 (Granta)

‘Pemi Aguda

Rafeeat Aliyu

WHERE THE RAIN MOTHERS ARE (Strange Horizons)

Rafeif Ismail

SOMETHING LIKE REVOLUTION (Meanjin Quarterly)

Shingai Kagunda

Stephen Embleton

THE GIRL WITH TWO BODIES (Kalahari Review)

Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Suyi Davies Okungbowa

A LIGHT FOR THE DARK UNDER (Brick Moon)

(also in the anthology IT STARTS WITH A HEIST (Brick Moon)

Tariro Ndoro

A TALE OF TWO SISTERS

(anthology HOTEL AFRICA, Short Story Day Africa)

Tariro Ndoro

T L Huchu

CORIALIS (Fiyah)

Tiah Marie Beautement

THE AMERICAN REFUGEE (Cast of Wonders Podcast)

Tobi Ogundiran

FAÊL (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

Wole Talabi

WHEN WE DREAM WE ARE OUR GOD

(Apex Magazine and ALL BORDERS ARE TEMPORARY, TrAP Magazine)

Wole Talabi

ABEOKUTA52 (Omenana)

Wole Talabi

SHORT STORIES  LONG LISTED BUT NOT ELIGIBLE

Blaize Kaye 

BRAND NEW WAYS TO LOSE YOU OVER AND OVER

– short listed 2019 (Omenana)

Dare Segun Falowo

NGOZI UGEGBE NWA – published 2020

(The Dark Magazine)

Derek Lubangakene

ORIGAMI ANGELS – not eligible shortlisted 2019

(Omenana)

Henrietta Rose-Innes

LIMERENCE – first published 2016

(Some Such Stories) 

Innocent Chizaram Ilodianya

RAT AND FINCH ARE FRIENDS – published 2020

(Strange Horizons)

Tiah Marie Beautement

MOMENTO MORI – shortlisted 2019

(Omenana)

T L Huchu

NJUZU – shortlisted 2019

(first published in AfroSFV3 edited by Ivor W. Hartmann and in the Johannesburg Review of Books)