Bangladeshi writers Anmana Manishita and Shazed Ul Hoq Abir have been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2026.
A total of 25 writers were selected for the shortlist from 7,806 entries worldwide.
Anmana Manishita is a lecturer at BRAC University and an editorial assistant at University Press Limited. She also completed both her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in English literature at the University of Dhaka.
Her shortlisted story, A Masculine Fest, is set in 1950s East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and follows a young Bengali Muslim woman coming to terms with the unexpected realities of womanhood.
Shazed Ul Hoq Abir is a fiction writer and translator. He completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in English literature at the University of Dhaka and has authored 11 books. He previously received the Kali O Kolom Young Fiction Writer Award and is currently a lecturer at East West University.
His shortlisted story, Mofiz’s Relation Spark Nai, has been translated into English by Arunava Sinha and Shabnam Nadia. It explores the complexities and breakdown of poor Mofiz’s relationship with his wife, intertwined with themes of life and the environment.
Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, Abir said, “At this moment of being shortlisted, I am simply a piece of news—just like any other. My journey as a writer is a separate world, a separate path. My walk along that path is a very solitary one.”
