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2021 timeline
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Coronavirus pandemic features in shortlisted stories, which also tackle themes of love and loss, belonging, sexuality, secrets and rumour, rites of passage, neocolonialism, racial exploitation and the power of imagination
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Kanya D’Almeida
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Twenty-five outstanding stories have been shortlisted by an international judging panel for the world’s most global literature prize.
The writers come from 14 countries across the Commonwealth including, for the first time, Lesotho and Namibia. Often humorous and always intensely moving, Chair Zoë Wicomb said the 25 stories range in scope from “concerns with sexual identity, gender relations, animal rights” to “neo-colonialism, racial exploitation and, of course, the perennial themes of love and death”.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from any of the Commonwealth’s 54 Member States. It is the most accessible and international of all writing competitions: in addition to English, entries can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, French, Greek, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish. Such linguistic diversity in a short story prize in part reflects the richness of the Commonwealth, not least its many and varied literary traditions.
The stories on the 2021 shortlist were selected from a total of 6,423 entries from 50 Commonwealth countries – a 25% rise in entries as compared to the previous year.
Among the shortlisted writers is Sri Lankan writer Kanya D’Almeida, whose fiction has appeared on Jaggery and The Bangalore Review. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She’s working on a book of short stories about mad women. Kanya is the host of ‘The Darkest Light’, a podcast exploring birth and motherhood in Sri Lanka.
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Her story ‘I Cleaned The—’ is about the dirty work: domestic labour, abandonment, romantic encounters behind bathroom doors, and human waste, which is to say—the things we leave behind.
Chair of the Judges, South African writer Zoë Wicomb, said, “Announcements about the death of the short story may be legion, but the 2021 shortlist loudly asserts that the form is in fine fettle. It also shows that writers continue to push at the very parameters of the short story. Many have tackled difficult subjects and found fresh means of representing these with courage and sensitivity.” She also praised the “novel use of local non-standard Englishes as well as inventive inscription of native languages”.
Describing the range of stories from speculative fictions that address environmental and political crises to the hyper-real and the supernatural, she added, “The great number of excellent submissions and the equivocal nature of aesthetic taste made for protracted discussions. It has been a privilege to participate in vigorous argument and thoughtful horse-trading as members of the judging panel generously conceded and negotiated priorities.”
Dr. Anne T. Gallagher AO, Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation, the intergovernmental organisation which administers the prize, commented, “A record number of entries were received this year for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize: a testimony to its enduring popularity and perhaps also to a deep creativity borne of isolation and uncertainty. The authors on this shortlist are to be celebrated for their mastery of the form. It is an honour for the Foundation to bring their work to wide public attention. And to all those who entered: we thank you for the timely reminder of the power of storytelling, not least its ability to comfort, inspire and heal.” The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation, through its cultural initiative Commonwealth Writers. The 2021 judging panel is chaired by South African writer Zoë Wicomb. The other panellists are Nigerian writer A. Igoni Barrett, Bangladeshi writer, translator and editor Khademul Islam, British poet and fiction writer Keith Jarrett, Jamaican environmental activist, award-winning writer and 2012 Caribbean regional winner Diana McCaulay and award-winning author and 2016 Pacific regional winner Tina Makereti from New Zealand.
Last year, Kritika Pandey won the 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her story ‘The Great Indian Tee and Snakes’. Nii Ayikwei Parkes, chair of the judges, described it as ‘a gut-punch of a story, remarkable because, in spite of its fraught subject matter, it never neglects the beauty of the world in which the story unfolds… a story that asks important questions about identity, prejudice and nationhood, using metaphors with devastating effect, while still brimming with its author’s revelry in the possibilities of language’.
Global impact upon writers’ careers: ‘The prize opened doors overnight’
Now in its 10th year, the prize has developed a strong reputation for discovering new writers and bringing them to a global audience.
Nominations have helped many new writers find publishers and agents. 2020 Australia/Pacific winner Andrea E. Macleod secured an agent, as did 2020 overall winner Kritika Pandey. Sharma Taylor, shortlisted in 2018, 2020 and again this year has just secured a two-book deal with Virago—the first book, her debut novel, is based on her shortlisted story ‘Son Son’s Birthday’.
Pandey noted how the prize had offered other opportunities too: her winning story has been translated into Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Pashto, and Italian. Kenyon Review and BBC Radio 4 have solicited work from her, and she is collaborating with Rosie Kay Dance company for a feminist take on Virginia’s Woolf’s novel Orlando as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“Winning the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2020 has opened doors I had not imagined possible at this stage of my career,” said Pandey.
2020 Caribbean winner Brian Heap also used some of his prize money as seed money for a student project, organising two creative writing competitions at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Jamaica.
The 2021 shortlisted stories will be published online, in the innovative online magazine of Commonwealth Writers, adda [www.addastories.org], which features new writing from around the globe. The judges will go on to choose a winner for each of the five regions. These regional winners will be announced on Wednesday 12 May, before being published online by the literary magazine Granta. The overall winner will be announced on Wednesday 30 June.
The Commonwealth Short Story PrizeThe Commonwealth Short Story Prize is administered by the Commonwealth Foundation, through its cultural initiative Commonwealth Writers. The prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000-5,000 words). Regional winners receive £2,500 GBP and the overall winner receives £5,000 GBP. Short stories translated into English from other languages are also eligible. |
The Commonwealth FoundationThe Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation, established by Member States of the Commonwealth. Uniquely placed at the interface between government and civil society, the Foundation works to support civil society engagement in shaping the policies and decisions that affect people’s lives. |
Commonwealth WritersCommonwealth Writers, the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation, helps develop, support and connect writers across the world. It was founded on the belief that well-told stories can help people make sense of events, engage with others, and take action to bring about change. Commonwealth Writers is committed to the promotion of linguistic diversity and works with local and international partners to identify and deliver a wide range of cultural projects and platforms, including adda, the online magazine of new writing. |
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