The Commonwealth Foundation has announced the five regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize on Wednesday.
The regional winners are Joshua Lubwama from Uganda (Africa), Faria Basher from Bangladesh (Asia), Chanel Sutherland from Canada/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Canada and Europe), Subraj Singh from Guyana (Caribbean), and Kathleen Ridgwell from Australia (Pacific). The overall winner will be announced on June 25.
Basher is the first Bangladeshi-origin writer to win the regional Prize. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Edinburgh and a master’s degree from New York University.
Taking the reader from a surf shack in Australia to a village in Guyana on the eve of independence, the stories tackle powerful themes head-on. The stories present the clash between generations as a boy’s illiterate mother fears and resents the unconventional newcomer; the lost memories of enslaved Africans for whom storytelling is their final act of defiance; the legacy of colonialism reflected in a demon that threatens to prey on a young baby; the pressures on young women in their twenties to get married and rear children – or face dire consequences; and how two young people form an unlikely friendship in the face of racism and family pressure.
Chair of the Judges, Vilsoni Hereniko, said, “These stories illuminate many aspects of human nature and demonstrate true mastery of the short story form. Each tale shows that geography matters in storytelling. They are works of fiction that are inseparable from the local culture and history from which they have sprung…”
The winning stories are:
Africa: “Mothers Not Appearing in Search” by Joshua Lubwama (Uganda). Against his mother’s wishes, a young boy befriends a woman who has recently moved into the neighbourhood.
Asia: “An Eye and a Leg” by Faria Basher (Bangladesh). A darkly humorous and surreal take on the trope of the “expiring” South Asian woman, with touches of the macabre.
Canada and Europe: “Descend” by Chanel Sutherland (Canada/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines). As a slave ship sinks, enslaved Africans share their life stories. Their voices rise in defiance, illuminating memory, resilience and hope.
Caribbean: “Margot’s Run” by Subraj Singh (Guyana)/ A new mother ventures into the night to protect her child from a bloodthirsty creature.
Pacific: “Crab Sticks and Lobster Rolls” by Kathleen Ridgwell (Australia). An Aboriginal boy sees himself as a crab stick – cheap, artificial, misrepresented. Through a forbidden relationship with a non-Indigenous girl, he comes to see his true value: a gilgie, authentic and deeply rooted in Country.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from any of the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries. In addition to English, submissions are accepted in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Malay, Maltese, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish.
