Trini wins C’wealthShort Story prize... again

NEWSDAY REPORTER

TRINI writer Kevin Jared Hosein has scooped up the Caribbean regional winner trophy in the world’s most global literary prize for the second time, having previously been awarded in 2015. His winning story, Passage, sends a midlife crisis-ridden protagonist into the wilderness in search for a mystery woman – with unforeseen consequences for others, and for himself.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from the Commonwealth. It is the only prize in the world where entries can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, English, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, and Tamil.

TT writer Breanne Mc Ivor made the longlist for the prize with her story The Boss. The international judging panel, chaired by the novelist and poet Sarah Hall, chose the five regional winners – tackling issues from abortion to transgender identity, from religion to mental illness – from a shortlist of 24, with 5,182 stories submitted from 48 Commonwealth countries.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is run by Commonwealth Writers, which develops and connects writers across the world and tackles the challenges they face in different regions. Commonwealth Writers is the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation.

Its director-general, Vijay Krishnarayan, said of this year’s winners: “These remarkable stories are testament to the vitality and range of writing from around the Commonwealth, to the importance of a truly international prize: one that works across linguistic and cultural boundaries.”

Hosein said: “TT writes itself. It writes loudly and quietly at the same time. Loudly, because it likes to boast of its best and worst parts. Quietly, because it thinks nobody cares to listen. This win, along with the many voices year after year whom have shortlisted and won for this little twin-island nation, is reinforced proof that people out there are entertained by our stories, derive meaning and relevance from them, and are moved by them. It is proof that people care to listen.”