The 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist is comprised of works submitted by authors from Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bahamas.
The stories are by Alexia Tolas (Bahamas), Cosmata Lindie (Guyana), Demoy Lindo (Jamaica), Kwame McPherson (Jamaica), and Deborah Matthews (Bahamas) (Trinidad and Tobago).
These are among the 28 exceptional stories shortlisted by an international jury for the most prestigious literary award in the world.
The writers hail from 19 Commonwealth nations, and the shortlisted entries cover a range of topics, including illness, human trafficking, decay, relationships, and hope, as well as family secrets, growing up gay in a hostile world, generation gaps, bittersweet friendships, and finding one’s way in the workplace. They range from science fiction and comedy to historical fiction and crime.
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is given annually to the author of the best unpublished short work of fiction from any of the Commonwealth’s 56 member states.
It is the most accessible and international of all writing competitions, accepting submissions in Bengali, Chinese, Creole, French, Greek, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish in addition to English.
Such linguistic diversity in a short story prize reflects, in part, the richness of the Commonwealth, including its diverse literary traditions. In 2023, 475 submissions were made in languages besides English.
The stories on the 2023 shortlist were chosen from 6,642 submissions from 56 Commonwealth nations, including, for the first time, Togo and Gabon, the newest members of the Commonwealth. The 10 men and 18 women on the shortlist range in age from 20 to 74.
This year’s prize shortlist includes twenty-seven new authors, one-quarter of whom are still in their twenties.
