One might as well start with Séraphin: twenty-four years old, playlist-maker, nerd-jock hybrid, self-appointed merchant of cool, Rwandan, stifled and living in Windhoek. In a few weeks he will leave the confines of his family life for cosmopolitan Cape Town where his friends, parties, conquests and controversies await. More than that, his long-awaited final year in law school will deliver a crucial puzzle piece of the Great Plan immigrant parents have for their children when they are forced to leave home and settle in new countries: a degree from one of South Africa's most prestigious universities.

For Séraphin, the coming year promises to be felicitous. But a year is more than the sum of its parts and en route to the future the present must be lived through and even the past must be survived. The Eternal Audience of One follows the intersecting lives of Séraphin and a host of eclectic characters from pre- and post-1994 Rwanda, colonial and post-independence Windhoek, Paris and Brussels in the 70s, the crowded public schools of Nairobi, as well as the hormone-saturated clubs and streets of Cape Town. From one of Africa's emerging literary voices comes a piquant modern epic of family, friendship and migration.

"Meet the future of African literature" (Mukoma Wa Ngugi, author of Nairobi Heat) with this "gorgeous, wildly funny, and, above all, profoundly moving and humane" (Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Here) coming-of-age tale following a young man who is forced to flee his homeland of Rwanda and make sense of his reality. Nobody ever makes it to the start of a story, not even the people in it. The most one can do is make some sort of start and then work toward some kind of ending. One might as well start with Seraphin: playlist-maker, nerd-jock hybrid, self-appointed merchant of cool, Rwandan, stifled and living in Namibia. Soon he will leave the confines of his family life for the cosmopolitan city of Cape Town, where loyal friends, hormone-saturated parties, adventurous conquests, and race controversies await. More than that, his long-awaited final year in law school promises to deliver a crucial puzzle piece of the Great Plan immigrant: a degree from a prestigious university. But a year is more than the sum of its parts, and en route to the future, the present must be lived through and even the past must be survived in this "hilarious and heartbreaking" (Adam Smyer, author of Knucklehead) intersection of pre- and post-1994 Rwanda, colonial and post-independence Windhoek, Paris and Brussels in the 70s, Nairobi public schools, and the racially charged streets of Cape Town. "Visually striking and beautiful told with youthful energy and hard-won wisdom" (Rabeah Ghaffari, author of To Keep the Sun Alive), The Eternal Audience of One is a lyrical and piquant tale of family, migration, friendship, war, identity, and race that will sweep you off your feet.

The collection brings together the five stories on the 2020 shortlist. The authors shortlisted for the 2020 AKO Caine Prize are: Jowhor Ile (Nigeria) for Fisherman's Stew, Remy Ngamije (Rwanda/Namibia) for The Neighbourhood Watch and Irenosen Okojie (Nigeria) for Grace Jones. The 2020 judging panel comprises: Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp (Chair) has over 35 years' experience in the UK arts and cultural sector, including a 25-year career as a dancer, choreographer, teacher and director. Since May 2018 he has been Director of The Africa Centre. Audrey Brown is a South African broadcast journalist, who currently presents the BBC World Service flagship daily news and current affairs programme, Focus on Africa. Gabriel Gbadamosi is an Irish-Nigerian poet and playwright. His London novel Vauxhall (2013) won the Tibor Jones Pageturner Prize and Best International Novel at the Sharjah Book Fair. James Murua is a Kenya-based blogger, journalist, podcaster and editor who has written for a variety of media outlets in a career spanning print, web and TV. Ebisse Wakjira-Rouw is an Ethiopian-born non-fiction editor, podcaster, publisher and policy advisor at the Dutch Council for Culture in the Netherlands.