THE influential Caine Prize for African Writing for 2023 was won by a power couple from Senegal. Their short story A Soul of Small Places (which can be read over here) echoes deeper trends in the country’s literature while picking up on the growth of horror and speculative fiction across the continent. African literature specialist Caroline D. Laurent explains. CAROLINE D. LAURENT, Assistant Professor, American University of Paris (AUP) What’s the Caine Prize and what does winning it mean? The Caine Prize, awarded annually since 2000, acknowledges a short story written in English by an African author. Its objective is…