One of the flagship projects of Commonwealth Writers, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize is now open for entries, with an international judging panel comprising judges from each of the five Commonwealth regions: Zukiswa Wanner (Africa); Mahesh Rao (Asia); Jacqueline Baker (Canada and Europe), Jacob Ross (Caribbean) and Vilsoni Hereniko (Pacific).

​The chair of this year’s panel is the novelist Kamila Shamsie, who is the author of six novels, including Burnt Shadows, which has been translated into more than 20 languages and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and A God in Every Stone which was shortlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.
 
“One of the pleasures of short stories is the potential for encountering both breadth and concentrated depth of writing over the space of just a few stories.  In the case of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the geographic range of the entrants, as well as the prize's track record of attracting extraordinary writing, turns that potential into near-certainty.”
Kamila Shamsie, Chair, 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
 
The prize is for the best piece of unpublished short fiction. Entries translated into English from other languages are also eligible. Writers from across the Commonwealth can enter their stories online at www.commonwealthwriters.org/our-projects/the-short-story
 
“As well as the scope of the Prize to unearth truly ‘less heard’ voices, it’s also one of only a handful of international prizes open to unpublished writers, as well as published writers, with £15,000 in prize money. And we believe that it’s the only major international prize which invites writers to enter in languages other than English – Bengali, Portuguese, Samoan and Swahili this year.” 
Lucy Hannah, Programme Manager, Commonwealth Writers

Commonwealth Writers is delighted to continue its partnership with GrantaMagazine to give the overall and regional winners of the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize the opportunity to have their story edited and published by Granta online.
For media enquiries please contact Emma D’Costa on e.dcosta@commonwealth.int or +44 (0) 20 7747 6328/+44 (0) 7803 034928

Notes to Editors
1. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is part of Commonwealth Writers, the cultural programme of the Commonwealth Foundation. It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2000-5000 words). Regional winners receive £2,500 and the Overall Winner receives £5,000. Short stories translated into English from other languages are also eligible. Translators receive additional prize money. 

2. Commonwealth Writers develops and connects writers across the world. It believes that well-told stories can help people make sense of events, engage with others, and take action to bring about change. Responsive and proactive, it is committed to tackling the challenges faced by writers in different regions and working with local and international partners to identify and deliver projects. Its activities take place in Commonwealth countries, but its community is global.www.commonwealthwriters.org

3. Commonwealth Foundation is a development organisation with an international remit and reach, uniquely situated at the interface between government and civil society. It develops the capacity of civil society to act together and learn from each other to engage with the institutions that shape people’s lives. It strives for more effective, responsive and accountable governance with civil society participation, which contributes to improved development outcomes.www.commonwealthfoundation.com

4. Granta is a quarterly literary magazine of new writing. Published in book format, each issue includes stories, essays, memoir, poetry and art centred around a theme. Throughout its long history, Granta has published the most significant writers of our time featuring work by writers including Julian Barnes, Edwidge Danticat, Kazuo Ishiguro, Salman Rushdie, Santiago Roncagliolo, David Mitchell, Lorrie Moore, Zadie Smith, Jeanette Winterson and more. In recent years, the magazine has expanded to include foreign editions – in Spain, Italy, Brazil, Norway, China, Finland, Sweden, Portugal and Bulgaria. www.granta.com

 Closing date 1 November 2016
 www.commonwealthwriters.org

The eminent Jamaican writer Olive Senior, winner of the 2016 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, will head the bill at a special event in New York City, hosted by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest at the Brooklyn Book Festival in September 2016.
This is the fourth time Bocas has hosted an event showcasing contemporary Caribbean writers at the Brooklyn Book Festival, which is the largest free literary festival in New York City.

Senior, who will read from her award-winning book The Pain Tree, will be joined at the BKBF event by Tiphanie Yanique of the US Virgin Islands and Jacqueline Bishop of Jamaica, the respective winners of the 2016 OCM Bocas Prize categories for poetry and non-fiction. This was the first year in the history of the prize — the Caribbean’s most prestigious literary award, sponsored by One Caribbean Media — that all three genre categories were won by women writers.

Two emerging writers from Trinidad and Tobago will complete the lineup for the event: fiction writer Sharon Millar, winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and poet Shivanee Ramlochan, whose work is featured in the recent anthology Coming Up Hot, a collection of some of the most promising emerging poets in the Caribbean.  The five writers will read from and discuss their work on the evening of Wednesday 14 September at the Old Stone House, a cultural venue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Titled “Write This in Fire: Five Burning Voices from the Caribbean”, the event will showcase the power and diversity of two generations of Caribbean women writers — and also pay tribute to the late Jamaican author Michelle Cliff, who died in June 2016.

The Bocas evening is just one in a rich programme of Bookend events to be staged throughout Brooklyn, in the week leading up to the main day of the 2016 BKBF on Sunday 18 September. Both Olive Senior and Sharon Millar will also appear in the Sunday programme, alongside literary luminaries from around the world.

“New York is a major Caribbean literary city, thanks to the many Caribbean readers and writers who live there, part of our region’s vast diaspora,” says Nicholas Laughlin, programme director of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest. “Part of our mission at Bocas is to promote Caribbean writers, wherever they are, to new audiences. The Brooklyn Book Festival is a wonderful opportunity to do just that. We’re thrilled to be returning there this year, and with such an extraordinary group of authors.”

Also participating in the festival is Guyanese Imam Baksh, 2015 winner of CODE’s Burt Award for Caribbean Literature, which recognises books for young adult readers. Other Caribbean writers in the BKBF programme include the debut Jamaican author Nicole Dennis-Benn, with her novelHere Comes the Sun; the Cuban sci-fi novelist Yoss; and Jamaica-born poet Claudia Rankine, whose multi-award-winning book Citizen is a searing investigation of racial tensions in the contemporary United States.
For more information about the Brooklyn Book Festival programme, visit www.brooklynbookfestival.org.