Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 shortlists announced.

The shortlists for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2023 were announced on Tuesday, March 4, 2023.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction in English in the regions of Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Each of these winners is then eligible for the global prize. Previous winners in the Africa region have been Jekwu Anyaegbuna (2012), Julian Jackson (2013), Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (2014), Lesley Nneka Arimah (2015), Faraaz Mahomed (2016), Akwaeke Emezi (2017), Efua Traoré (2018), Mbozi Haimbe (2019), Innocent Chizaram Ilo (2020), Rémy Ngamije and Roland Watson-Grant (2021), and Ntsika Kota (2022). Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi won the global prize in 2014.

The judging panel for the 2023 edition of the prize is chaired by Pakistani writer and translator Bilal Tanweer. His fellow judges, drawn from the five regions of the Commonwealth, are Rwandan-born Namibian writer, photographer, and editor, Rémy Ngamije (Africa), Sri Lankan author and publisher Ameena Hussein (Asia), Canadian writer and critic Madeleine Thien (Canada/Europe), poet and New Zealand’s former Poet Laureate, Dr. Selina Tusitala Marsh (Pacific), and poet and novelist Mac Donald Dixon from Saint Lucia (Caribbean).

The stories on the 2023 shortlist announced yesterday were selected from a total of 6,642 entries from 56 Commonwealth countries including, for the first time, Togo and Gabon—the very newest members of the Commonwealth. Chair of the Judges, Pakistani writer and translator Bilal Tanweer said, ‘On behalf of the jury, I am thrilled to reveal the shortlist for the 2023 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. This year’s shortlist is a concert of voices from across the Commonwealth, showcasing the richness of its writing traditions, histories, and perspectives. These stories brim with the energy and urgency of the present moment—read them to experience the beat and pulse of contemporary storytelling.

Here are the shortlisted writers of African descent;

Africa

• Price Tags, Buke Abduba (Kenya)
• Punching Lines, Josiah Mbote (Kenya)
• Arboretum, H. B. Asari (Nigeria)
• Mama Blue, Michael Boyd (South Africa)
• The Undertaker’s Apprentice, Hana Gammon (South Africa)
• Falling from a knife tree, Matshediso Radebe (South Africa)

Canada and Europe

• Because You Drowned, Jay McKenzie (UK)

Caribbean

• The Ovelias at Benzie Hill Dump, Alexia Tolas (Bahamas)
• Where The Winds Blow, Cosmata Lindie (Guyana)
• Road Trip and Fall, Demoy Lindo (Jamaica)
• Ocoee, Kwame McPherson (Jamaica) ‘
• Teef From Teef, Deborah Matthews (Trinidad and Tobago)

The regional winners will be announced on May 17 before the overall winners are revealed at a ceremony on June 27, 2023.