Stickfighting Days

"Stickfighting Days" is the second short story by Olufemi Terry from Sierra Leonean. It is the winner of the 2010 Caine Prize for African Writing.^[1] It was originally published in the pan-African magazine Chimurenga (vol. 12/13).^[2]

"Stickfighting Days"
Short story by Olufemi Terry
Country	Sierra Leone
Language	English
Publication
Publisher	Chimurenga, Vol. 12/13
Media type	Short story

The story follows a group of glue-sniffing boys in a dump who fight with sticks.^[3] Terry said the story originally came into his head as "the idea of street boys in Nairobi, in rags, sniffing glue", adding: "The stickfighting element just popped into my head—there wasn't any obvious connection between the two strands, but somehow I found myself working with these two elements and the story just poured out of me".^[2]

"Stickfighting Days" won the Caine Prize for African Writing on 5 July 2010. It defeated shortlisted entries by writers from across Africa, including Ken Barris (South Africa), Lily Mabura (Kenya), Namwali Serpell (Zambia), and Alex Smith (South Africa).^[4] Fiammetta Rocco, the judges' chair and literary editor with The Economist, said: "Ambitious, brave and hugely imaginative, Olufemi Terry's 'Stickfighting Days' presents a heroic culture that is Homeric in its scale and conception. The execution of this story is so tight and the presentation so cinematic, it confirms Olufemi Terry as a talent with an enormous future".^[2]