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Sidra Nisar is a marketing professional from Karachi. She has recently had a short story published in Dreams in Sepia, an anthology by TWS Publications. She also works with Baydarii, a platform she co-founded to promote open conversations around women’s physical, mental, and emotional health.
WINNER
CHAI AND THE CITY
by
Sidra Nisar
Funny, wistful, and tender character sketches form the basis of this story about a Karachi chai dhaba and its customers as seen through the eyes of Chacha Wahid, the owner-cum-listener of the establishment
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID​
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I was so taken by the lovingness of this story. The patience of Chacha Wahid is mirrored in the patience of the writer, with each vignette given room. As Chacha Wahid adjusts his recipes depending on whom he serves, the story itself becomes a cup, and we, the readers, are also lovingly held. - UAK
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'Chai' has such fantastic energy on the line, such texture and range. It captured that city feel, the vibrancy of it, the busyness of it. It was so vivid, I really felt like I was in the world. - AA
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The writer brought out a real joy of writing. The tone is uplifting, the writing is crisp. It’s a very well compacted short story: you get the vignettes, you get a flavour of her writing, you get humour, you get a cast of characters. It's the whole package! - OSH
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Zahra Haider is a writer from Islamabad, based in Montreal whose work traces the fault lines of identity, nationalism, and diaspora through a feminist and postcolonial lens. Her essays and commentary have appeared on BBC, CNN, CBC, Dawn, Deutsche Welle, Foreign Policy, The Friday Times, and VICE News among others. She publishes the Substack Zero Point and co-hosts the podcast Armpit Intellectuals.
AJRAK AND ASHES
by
Zahra Haider
A not unfamiliar theme of the discovery of another wife after the death of a husband is given fresh impetus as a contemplation of sisterhood blossoming from a shared intimacy.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID​
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Very well written and strong piece. It really left you wanting to know more about the lives of these women - OSH
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The writer’s eye for detail invites readers into the rich interior life of the narrator, and all the unspoken turbulence that lies hidden there. I was also struck by the descriptions of place, and how the buildings and streets, like the narrator, hold their secrets. - UAK
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This story has a strong sense of place with lots of really admirable lines -AA
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Sumayya Arshed is is a writer and poet based in Islamabad currently in the final year of an undergraduate degree in English Literature. She has co-authored two anthologies, As the Light Fades and Things The Moon Knew, and her poems have been published or are forthcoming in TheMarrow, Ultramarine Literary Review, Full House Literary Journal, Inksight, underscore_mag, blood+honey, The Bloomin' Onion, and Prosetrics. Her work explores themes of love, belonging, and loss.
DRENCHED IN QORMA
AND DREAD
by
Sumayya Arshed
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID​
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It dealt with really interesting and complex themes. There was enough thematically to keep me engaged so I really enjoyed reading it. - AA
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Despite being on a theme and subject that has been explored a lot in Pakistani literature, it’s a good, compact short story, especially in terms of form and structure. I liked the writing which displays great flashes of humour - OSH
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An intelligent story that interrogates gender roles with wit. The unequal distribution of labor, and unequal expectations of beauty and perfection at this Eid gathering, where women cook and men talk and eat on their “thrones,” are examined in a voice that is both deeply serious and hilarious. This is a writer whose lines flow with a distinctive rhythm and punch. - UAK
A darkly comic portrait of a family’s Eid dinner, rendered through the narrator’s jaundiced observations with satirical flair.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Maryam Zahid has completed a degree in English Literature from the University of Karachi. Her work, which explores the lives of women in Pakistan and often features Karachi, has appeared in The Aleph Review and Livinapress. She also attended The Salam Award Fellowship in 2025.
GHUSL BEFORE MAGHRIB
by
Maryam Zahid
As the Azan sounds, a woman performs her ablutions. An atmospheric story full of powerful sensuousness and imagery with a plot that cleverly subverts expectations.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID​
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Strong beginning with a good, simple story structure with three distinct sections. Unlike others, I didn’t find it predictable, which caught me by surprise and that’s what I really liked about it. - OSH
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The opening sequence, the quiet, sensuous time alone that this pacing allows the protagonist, moved me. The contrast between the physical world when she is alone with water at the start, and the physical world that she steps out into later, as she walks through the city, is also affecting. - UAK
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Alina Ehtesham is a writer and photographer from Karachi. After writing quietly in her private space she has now started sending her work off into the world, with Motia being her first fiction publication. One day she wishes to house short stories within a photo book.
MOTIA
by
Alina Ehtesham
Seen through the eyes of a child, family dynamics undergo an upheaval as a second, younger wife joins the household.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID​
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A lovely story. An ode to friendship and trust between women across generations, to the ways that patriarchy and cycles of violence can be resisted. Amma is a terrific character. We don’t often get stories of mothers who quietly yet resolutely refuse to perpetrate the harm that they were subjected to. Yet, Amma does, and we see her through the eyes of a young daughter carefully observing these changes. The child’s lens is consistent, existing between innocence and knowledge, and the writer is willing to take bold and assured stylistic risks, including in the word play, and in the transitions at the end. I hope we hear more from this talented writer. - UAK.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
THE ETYMOLOGY OF MAMAN
by
Elia Rathore
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID​
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Strong in parts with some vivid imagery of the mountain landscapes of northern Pakistan - AA
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The writing is at its best when it describes the journey, replete with travel sickness, shared confidences and campfire hostilities. - OSH
Elia Rathore is a professional writer from Pakistan now based in Riyadh. Her writing has been been featured in The New York Times, DAWN Images, Mangal Media, The Aleph Review, The Underbelly Press, Give Something Back to Berlin Magazine, Variety Pack Zine, among others. There's not a single form of writing that doesn't interest her, but the haiku might just be her favorite
An unflinching look at a mother-daughter relationship during a camping trip to the mountains where the author bravely embraces the voice of the unlikable narrator.