We are happy to announce that the following two short stories and two creative non-fiction pieces, first published in Cha, have been nominated by us for inclusion in Best of the Net Anthology 2016 (published by Sundress). Congratulations to these writers and good luck!

SHORT STORIES

“Dost-e-Whisky and Me” by Bashir Sakhawarz (Issue 30, December 2015) | Bashir Sakhawarz is an award-winning poet and novelist. His first poetry collection in 1978 won the first prize for New Poetry from the Afghan Writers’ Association. Sakhawarz has published seven books in Persian and English. His latest novel, Maargir, The Snake Charmer was entered for the Man Asian Literary Prize by the publisher and was long-listed for India’s 2013 Economist Crossword Book Award. His other works have been published in: Proceeding of the Ninth Conference of the European Society for Central Asia, Images of Afghanistan and Language for a New Century. In June 2015 he won the first prize for fiction from Geneva Writers Group.

“The Double” by Devi Yesodharan (Issue 29, September 2015) | Devi Yesodharan has worked as a speechwriter in the government and the private sector, and managed the communication campaigns for candidates in India’s state and national elections. In 2011 she was awarded the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She lives and works in Bangalore, India.

CREATIVE NON-FICTION

“Meeting with the Sea” by Melissa De Silva (Issue 32, June 2016) | Melissa De Silva has enjoyed a career in magazine journalism in Singapore. She has had short stories published in The Wilderness House Literary Review,Quarterly Literary Review Singapore and the upcoming LONTAR: Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction. She writes about Eurasian identity and culture and is working on a novel on that subject.

“Psalms” by Alana Leilani T. Cabrera-Narciso (Issue 29, September 2015) | Alana Leilani T. Cabrera-Narciso teaches literature both at the undergraduate and graduate levels at Silliman University, Dumaguete, Philippines. She is currently finishing her second master’s degree in Creative writing. Last year, she was coordinator of the Silliman University National Writers Workshop in its 54th year, although she’s served the workshop close to a decade now. She was Silliman’s sole Faculty Merit Awardee in 2014. Her passions include literary pedagogy, criticism, creative writing and research. She has presented papers in and outside the country on her research work. When she is not at work, she is at home convincing her daughter that princesses are strong girls too. (Photo credit: Sha’ianne Molas Lawas)