First-time Fijian author scoops award in Commonwealth short story competition
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Version 0 of 1. The Fijian winner of a regional heat for the Commonwealth short story prize says she hopes her victory will show other authors that it is “possible to dream, write, and speak from the islands”. Mary Rokonadravu took the Pacific regional prize for the Commonwealth award for her story Famished Eels. She said she had been writing for 20 years, but had not been published and hadn’t entered a competition before. It was, she said, “extremely humbling to see my words finally out there and recognised”. “I live and write in a fragile democracy. A small island country beset by issues of climate change and globalisation – I belong to peoples at the frontlines of loss and ultimate disappearance without having found a voice. It is not an easy space to inhabit. For too long, others have told our stories and that has always been painful to witness,” said Rokonadravu, who is communications manager at WWF-Pacific. “I hope that for the Pacific region, hidden and struggling writers will find this win as proof that we do not have to leave our homelands in order to tell our stories. It is possible to dream, write and speak from the islands. While our diaspora continue to thrive and write in new countries, it is critical that we who remain home find our voice and speak our changing reality. This alone, can make the human story complete.” The awards, set up by the Commonwealth Foundation, are open to citizens of the 53 Commonwealth countries, and aim to reward the best piece of unpublished short fiction. This year’s competition attracted almost 4,000 entries. British writer Jonathan Tel, who has previously been shortlisted for the Sunday Times short story award, took the Canada and Europe regional award for The Human Phonograph, part of a collection of stories set in contemporary Beijing. “The stories are linked thematically, by means of overlapping characters, and by an overarching mystery plot,” said Tel. “One of my characters is a hustling property developer. The better to understand him, I wrote a backstory telling the tragic romance of his parents on a nuclear base in Qinghai province in the 1960s.” Nigerian Lesley Nneka Arimah won the Africa awardwith Light; the Asian award went to Siddhartha Gigoo, from India, for The Umbrella Man; and the Caribbean award was won by Kevin Jared Hosein, from Trinidad and Tobago, for The King of Settlement 4. Chair of this year’s judges, the author Romesh Gunesekera, said the panel were looking for “stories that would engage us and make us rethink our notions of form, language and what mattered”. “The winning stories,” he said, “did all of that and more.” The regional winners each receive £2,500. The overall winner will be announced on 8 September. |