Local authors on Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2024 shortlist
Three Aotearoa New Zealand authors and one Australian writer are among the finalists for the 2024 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
The authors shortlisted for the Pacific region are:
- M Donato for ‘Mananangal’ (New Zealand)
- Pip Robertson for ‘A River Then the Road’ (New Zealand)
- Jennifer Severn for ‘Nobody Owns a Fire’ (Australia)
- Anna Woods for ‘So Clean’ (New Zealand).
The local authors are among 23 writers in the running for the prize, which covers the Commonwealth regions of Africa; Asia; Canada and Europe; Caribbean; and Pacific. The shortlisted authors were chosen from over 7359 entries from 53 Commonwealth countries. Writers from Mauritius, Rwanda and St Kitts and Nevis have been shortlisted for the first time in 2024, and 414 entries this year were in languages other than English.
Bundjalung author Melissa Lucashenko was one of five judges drawn from the five regions of the Commonwealth to join judging panel chair Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. The others are South African writer Keletso Mopai (Africa), Singaporean writer O Thiam Chin (Asia), Canadian writer and editor Shashi Bhat (Canada/Europe), and poet and author Richard Georges from the British Virgin Islands (Caribbean).
Regional winners of the prize will be announced on 29 May, before being published online by literary magazine Granta. The overall winner will be announced on 26 June.
Last year’s winner was Jamaican writer Kwame McPherson for his story ‘Ocoee’.
The shortlisted authors in each region are listed on the prize website.
Category: Awards Local news
