The first mother is too clean; the second, who looks like the real-life Aishwarya Rai, is too pretty. In her small Mumbai apartment with too-thin walls and a too-small balcony, Avni watches laundry turn round in her machine, dreams of stepping into white limousines, and tries out different mothers from the shelter.
One of them must be just rightβ¦. I am so thankful to the judges, my fellow shortlisted writers, and the other regional winners for writing beautiful stories. For my strange storyβabout mothers and daughters, about bodies, beauty standards, and Bombay street foodβto find such a global audience is thrilling. I cannot express how wholly honoured I am to be the recipient of this incredible prize.
I hope I continue writing stories that people want to read. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thakur pushes this stinging absurdity as far as to suggest hiring mothers to replace inadequate ones.
Rarely do we see satire pulled off so effortlessly. Congratulations to all five writers on this special achievement.
Two draw upon historical events, the wildfires in Canada, and the day electricity came to a remote village in Trinidad. It is an impatient form; it does not dance around. The punch of a good short story leaves you breathless. As the judging panel, we enjoyed, sorrowed, celebrated and eventually agreed that these stories came up on top of the different regions.
