Shortlisted stories

She opened her hand delicately, like a flower. There was nothing inside.  ‘Do you know how to hide an idea?’…

It is not the first time a tourist has died here, but it is the first time a tourist has…

1. I have to believe it was not Mama’s intention that I should die this slow death. That the most…

I had forgotten how steep the staircases were in these pre-war buildings. The Airbnb I had rented for our holiday…

My mother married my father because her husband died, and my father married my mother because his wife passed away.…

Hear nuh man. Everybody know that it have two type a mango that is the best mango to eat. The…

Inky skies glowed blue at the horizon, and the fish and chip shop slouched in the wide main street. One…

The basant party is the first event Khalida attends as a wife. As a mistress, daytime invitations were seldom extended…

Kingston, Jamaica

‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used…

There is an object on the floor. I am not sure what to do with it. I would like to…

‘Ali na ng’anda yu nana ofuna lini kumvwa m’lilimo waleza.’  She with a leaking roof, does not want to hear…

Abuelo draws maps of London from memory. In the afternoons, he comes home full of coffee and gossip, a copy…

And, after 15 years, you hire a taxi and leave for Aba. It isn’t your preferred destination at this time,…

I’m not sure if it was my daughter, my mother or I who, one fall day after school, threw hollyhock…

‘Lifestyle Guide for The Discerning Witch’ was shortlisted for the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.   You will be your…