Fiction writer Elizabeth Tshele, MFA '10, who writes under the name NoViolet Bulawayo, has won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story "Hitting Budapest."

The Caine Prize is considered Africa's leading literary award. Author and chair of judges Hisham Matar awarded Tshele the prize July 11 at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.

"The language of 'Hitting Budapest' crackles," Matar said. "This is a story with moral power and weight; it has the artistry to refrain from moral commentary. NoViolet Bulawayo is a writer who takes delight in language."

Tshele was the Truman Capote Creative Writing Lecturer in Cornell's Department of English during the 2010-11 academic year. In 2011-12, she will hold a joint lectureship with the Department of English and the Africana Studies and Research Center.

"Hitting Budapest," published in the November/December 2010 issue of the Boston Review, is a vivid snapshot of Tshele's native Zimbabwe, seen through the eyes of six shantytown children who venture into an affluent suburb.

"Some of the things I write about in 'Hitting Budapest' come from my own life. The stealing of guavas, the growing up poor, having dreams," Tshele says.

She brings that experience to her course Writing Across Cultures: "The Things I Have Seen": Literature and Human Rights. Investigating literature as an ethical project, the course asks, "Is it possible to share in the suffering of others?"

Reflecting on "Hitting Budapest," Tshele discusses the link between literature and cross-cultural understanding. "I think writing and other forms of art can definitely push us toward healing because it starts a process of dialogue, as well as allows those stories that go untold to be brought to the forefront."

Tshele recently completed a novel, tentatively titled "We Need New Names," on similar themes. She is working on a memoir.

The Caine Prize carries a £10,000 monetary award and a writer-in-residence opportunity at Georgetown University.

Molly Kerker is a staff member in the Department of English.