South African author Diane Awerbuck has been shortlisted for the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

The shortlist includes 21 from stories, chosen from almost 6000 entries from 49 Commonwealth countries – a record number of submissions in the sixth year of the prize.

So delighted to see Diane Awerbuck on this shortlist for her story "Nagmaal". https://t.co/IIxX3DMIdI

— Henrietta Rose-Innes (@HenriettaRI) April 4, 2017

Other Africans on the list are Kelechi Njoku and Akwaeke Emezi, both from Nigeria.

The Prize is awarded to “the best piece of unpublished short fiction in English” and is judged by a panel of writers, representing the five regions of the Commonwealth. The 2017 judges are Zukiswa Wanner (Africa), Mahesh Rao (Asia), Jacqueline Baker (Canada and Europe), Jacob Ross (Caribbean) and Vilsoni Hereniko (Pacific).

• An Enquiry into Morality, Tom Vowler (United Kingdom)
• By Way of a Life Plot, Kelechi Njoku (Nigeria)
• Close to Home, Jinny Koh (Singapore)
• Cursing Mrs. Murphy, Roland Watson-Grant (Jamaica)
• Drawing Lessons, Anushka Jasraj (India)
• Echolocation, Sarah Jackson (United Kingdom)
• Gauloises Blue, Ruth Lacey (Australia)
• Gypsy in the Moonlight, Caroline Gill (Canada)
• Harbour, Chloe Wilson (Australia)
• Hot Pot, Jasmine Sealy (Canada)
• Immunity, Damon Chua (Singapore)
• Nagmaal, Diane Awerbuck (South Africa)
• Numb, Myfanwy McDonald (Australia)
• Shopping, Jon Lewis-Katz (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Swimmer of Yangtze, Yiming Ma (Canada)
• The Brief, Insignificant History of Peter Abraham Stanhope, Mary Rokonadravu (Fiji)
• The Death of Margaret Roe, Nat Newman (Australia)
• The Dying Wish, Caroline Mackenzie (Trinidad and Tobago)
• The Naming of Moths, Tracy Fells (United Kingdom)
• The Sweet Sop, Ingrid Persaud (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Who Is Like God, Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria)

Novelist Kamila Shamsie, this year’s chair of judges, said of this year’s shortlist:

“The extraordinary ability of the short story to plunge you into places, perspectives and emotions and inhabit them fully in the space of only a few pages is on dazzling display in this shortlist. The judges weren’t looking for particular themes or styles, but rather for stories that live and breathe. That they do so with such an impressive range of subject matter and tone has been a particular pleasure of re-reading the shortlisted stories. The geographic spread of the entries is, of course, in good part responsible for this range – all credit to Commonwealth Writers for structuring this prize so that its shortlists never seem parochial.”

To read excerpts from all the stories shortlisted, click here.

Categories Africa Fiction International South Africa

Tags Awards Commonwealth Short Story Prize Diane Awerbuck