Stickfighting Days
Stickfighting Days is a short story by Olufemi Terry from Sierra Leone, written in English. It was published in Chimurenga magazine (volume 12/13).
The story follows a group of glue-sniffing boys living in a rubbish dump who fight with sticks. Terry has said the idea started with images of street boys in Nairobi sniffing glue, and the stickfighting element came to him later, with the two ideas coming together as he wrote.
Stickfighting Days won the 2010 Caine Prize for African Writing, announced on July 5, 2010. It beat other finalists from across Africa. Judge Fiammetta Rocco praised it as ambitious, brave, and hugely imaginative, noting its Homeric scale and cinematic execution. Finalists included writers from South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:03 (CET).