As always, we received a wealth of entries for this year’s contest too and had a hard time deciding on the winning entries. The editors would like to thank all who participated. The prize winning entries for NAW Short Story Competition 2017 are:
- Little Fish by Masami Mustaza
Masami Mustaza is a Malaysian working in public relations. A fledgling writer who only started writing (bad) short stories in 2016, she wishes that she could find the inspiration (and motivation) to write more. She has a few short stories published by Malaysian indie publisher BukuFixi.
Little Fish tells the story of Nicholas. Nicholas is reminded of the broken relationships in his life one year after the death of his nephew, Brian, after making a visit to the wet market. He is haunted by the image of the fish, which also make a prominent feature in his childhood, which hints at things that are still unresolved below the surface.
- Bucket of Cherries by Rajni Mala Khelawan
Rajni Mala Khelawan is an emerging Canadian writer who was born in Fiji Islands in 1974. In addition to being a visiting writer at The University of the South Pacific, Fiji Islands in August 2011, Khelawan was profiled on hit Canadian TV and radio shows such as Bollywood Boulevard, CBC Radio, Omni South Asian News, Asian Magazine TV, and NUTV. She was the Writer in Residence at Fiji National University in 2014. Her short story “Still Standing” was published in The Voice Magazine. Her two novels are The End of the Dark and Stormy Night (2008) and Kalyana (2016). You can find her on Twitter @RajniMala or Facebook or visit her Blog.
Bucket of Cherries is a story about Mira, a South Asian woman living in Vancouver, Canada, who attempts to redefine her identity after her husband of thirty years, passes away. She forms a relationship with Amir, a young Indian single father living across the street from her. This story is 4365 words in length.
- Home by Selma Carvalho
Selma Carvalho is a British-Indian writer and author of three books documenting the Goan presence in colonial East Africa. Her short prose has been published in Indian, British and North American literary journals. She has been long and shortlisted in short story contests by Almond Press UK, Exeter Writers UK 2015and again in 2017, TSS Quarterly UK, DNA-Out of print, India, Strands International Short Story, and Brilliant Flash Fiction. Of Indian origin, she grew up in Dubai, spent several years in Minnesota, USA, before moving to London where she currently lives with her husband and daughter. Find her here.
Anna returns home to face the ghosts of male patriarchy, a long-lost love, and a dour, unaffectionate mother. An afternoon spent in the happy company of family and friends, in the pink-hued bubble of nostalgia, reminds her that home is a place of indefinite abode and changing identities.