Troy Onyango

writer • editor • founder @lolwe_ @namand_co • manager @sarabamag • owner @lolwebookske/@lolwebooksuk

[Troy Onyango @TroyOnyango]

wuod kisumu

[Zenas Ubere @ZenasUbere]

Our pushbacks shouldn't get lost in tweets. The Atlantic won't take down that essay, so we need to make permanent records of our rebuttals. If you have an essay on this AI witch-hunting debacle and you are looking for where to place it, please send me a DM.

[Iruoma @heeruomah]

we need to fund our own art. it’s obvious that we will never be accepted or validated by them. we need to build and sustain our own institutions. here, at home.

[Troy Onyango @TroyOnyango]

@Penprince_ it was the intern 🤭🤣

[Troy Onyango @TroyOnyango]

@__mofiyinfoluwa 🤭💀

[foxygen @foxypiano]

the verminous yakubian dregs of the internet who have barely read a piece of African literature their entire lives are already squirming in the quotes of this. and they're the target audience; racist, bored idiots. this is yet another ammunition for their perpetual witch-hunt.

[Writer | Climber | Mother of Dragons | Kas Ka Gan @Wordslinger__]

This wave of dubbing African writers as using AI is very insidious, because its not stopping there - anything we write, from proposals, to work plans, to academic work (papers/theses), to LinkedIn posts - everything - is being painted with the AI accusatory finger.

[Afua Awo Twumwa @awotwumwa]

Caine Prize should not allow these accusations to stand. And it should go beyond just issuing a statement. Sue if possible. This targeting of African writers must end. African Writers have written incredibly and never needed AI to do so.

[Afua Awo Twumwa @awotwumwa]

By whose permission did @vauhinivara feed Caine Prize submissions into AI to figure out if it is AI? Did the writer give their permission? Did the Prize? I hope actual action with consequence is taken.

[BODYGUARD of Books and Food @foureyedmarvel]

This author has written two profiles like this. One targeted the CSSP. The other targeted the Caine Prize. These are perhaps the two biggest launchpad competitions for POC writers. Both are now permanently tainted all in a bid to drum up business for a silly software company.

OK

[Modupe @du_peee]

Big 5 publishers are suing AI companies over the use of copyrighted books to train LLMs. This is a legally complex and sensitive issue. Their open admission is all the more shocking. So brazen & careless. But they don't care because it's African IP, after all.

[Troy Onyango @TroyOnyango]

#eyesonsudan
#freesudan

[Muslims Posting Their W's @MuzlimsPostingW]

please don't forget sudan

[theo budiyanto @tibudiyanto]

its ok to be average but dont drag the dreamers and the overachievers

[Troy Onyango @TroyOnyango]

it’s illegal but they don’t care. why would they care? after all, to them these are inferior stories that don’t deserve the glory afforded to western writers. they won’t care until things change.

i hope the caine prize sues them for every single penny they have.

[Modupe @du_peee]

The writer for The Atlantic also openly admitted to feeding 25 years’ worth of Caine Prize essays into AI. Is that allowed?

[Troy Onyango @TroyOnyango]

for most young african writers, being shortlisted for the caine prize is a career highlight and a game-changer. i imagine it’s the same for simbarashe. to have this moment yanked from him, to have this level of malice thrown at him is just cruel. i hope he feels protected.

[... @tamaranopper]

Toni Morrison emphasized learning “how to receive tremendous joy from problem solving when the problems to be solved involve the improvement of real lives.”

“We really have to learn to love thinking again. Not fretting, not worrying, but thinking… to learn, to change things.”

[Ifenimi @Ifenimiii]

There’s dignity and beauty in starting afresh, as many times as necessary. Our lives are shaped by daily iterations of returning to the beginning. We die at night and wake in the morning, our eyes open to new realities and our hearts thumping in agreement: begin, begin, begin.

[Troy Onyango @TroyOnyango]

this is exactly why as soon as they came for the commonwealth short story prize we should have all pushed back hard! we should have asked for due process to be followed and cussed out the racist trolls leading the charge.

[Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki @Penprince_]

And these things are attacks on the African literary establishment, not just random. See how the Caine prize has taken time and resources to investigate this lazy, trash, and spurious claim. It will affect its next round & how it operates. Same as the Commonwealth prize allegation did. After that one where they published the stories had to change. When they opened, etc. And that's all that we know. These things break and harm the African literary structures we have. Affect how they can operate. These aren't just random. These are white supremacist attacks. And they need to be beaten back, viciously. @epwa66 and the @CainePrize need to come back hard at this piece and it's writer, legally and otherwise. Haven't heard anything from you. At the very least this deserves a strongly worded response. To start. Aura for effing aura. We are the writers right? Why are we still letting anyone talk down to us in 2026? African writers are mostly poor and disadvantaged. They can't defend themselves. Why did you acquire all that power and clout if not to defend the institutions you established? Stop sitting around looking at these people tear us down and actually do something about it. We can talk about building African institutions all day. But to what end, if we don't defend them or punish and discourage people who try to tear them down? If the Commonwealth prize had done this, maybe we wouldn't be here now. I am sure the next one is already loading as we speak. African literary systems will be the first to fall to the AI scourge, if we keep going like this.

[my book is better than my tweets @MichellCClark]

Not everything meaningful is built through intensity. Some things are built through repetition. Recovery. Discernment. Patience. Allowing your capacity, character, and judgement enough time to grow alongside your opportunities.

[Shamelessly Marketing African Books @AbdullahiBulle]

Reason why you should sell & buy https://t.co/WtIcCtlFWL the only bookshop that stocks over 4k self published authors and home to 80% African books.

[Aiwanose Odafen @aiwahannah]

I’m convinced a lot of the people writing these witch hunting articles on African writing don’t understand how AI and AI detection tools work.