The Commonwealth Foundation is delighted to announce the five regional winners of the 2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize:
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Reena Usha Rungoo (Mauritius) for the Africa region
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Sanjana Thakur (India) for the Asia region
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Julie Bouchard (Canada) for the Canada and Europe region (translated from French into English by Arielle Aaronson)
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Portia Subran (Trinidad and Tobago) for the Caribbean region
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Pip Robertson (New Zealand) for the Pacific region
This year’s prize attracted the highest-ever number of entrants, and the winners were all nominated for the first time. Congratulations to all five writers on this special achievement.
The winning stories carry readers from a small village in Trinidad to a lonely motel in New Zealand via northern Canada, Mumbai and Mauritius, with themes ranging from love and loss, troubled relationships with parents, and a woman’s love of tea. Two draw upon historical events, the 2023 wildfires in Canada, and the day electricity came to a remote village in Trinidad.
Chair of the Judges, Ugandan-British novelist and short story writer Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi says: ‘The short story form has neither the luxury of time nor the comfort of space. It is an impatient form; it does not dance around. The punch of a good short story leaves you breathless. As the judging panel, we enjoyed, sorrowed, celebrated and eventually agreed that these stories came up on top of the different regions.’
The five regional winners will go through to the final round of judging and the overall winner will be announced on 26 June 2024.
Their stories will be published online by the literary magazine Granta. More
The 2025 prize opens for entries September 1, 2024.
