20 Stories From South Asia

Akhteruzzaman Elias was a Bangladeshi short story writer and novelist, received with critical acclaim for his contributions to Bengali literature.

Allam Seshagiri Rao was a prominent Telugu short story writer, Having worked in Railways as well,  he gained acclaim through his hunting narratives in Telugu.

Qazi Abdul Jalil, better known by his pen-name Amar Jalil, is a Sindhi fiction writer and columnist in Pakistan. He has been awarded with several distinctions for his works, which include the Pride of Performance and the Akhal Bharat Sindhi Sahat Sabha National Award.

Arupa Patangia Kalita is an Assamese short story writer and novelist. She is a recipient of the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award, the Katha Prize and the Prabina Saikia Award. She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014 for her short story collection titled Mariam Austin Othoba Hira Barua. Her works have been translated into Bengali, English and Hindi, and relate to the lives of the Assamese middle class and working class, focussing on women's issues, violence and insurgency.

Bolwar Mahammad Kunhi is the first writer to depict the travails of Muslims in Kannada literature. His short story collections have received many awards: Devarugala Rajyadalli which won the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award (1983), Anka which won the Bharatrajya Samsthan Award (1986), and Akashakke Neeli Parade which won the Sahitya Akademi Award for the Best Creative Book (1991).

Dalbir Chetan is a retired excise officer who has several short story collections to his credit. Some of his stories have been translated into English and other Indian languages. He is the co-editor of the monthly magazine Shillalekh.

Gautam Sengupta is a writer in Bengali language. He has written several short stories which have been published in well-known Bengali magazines.

M A Asumath has authored several collections of verses and won prizes for his short stories. For his literary achievements, he was awarded with the title "Najmus Shuaara" (Poetic Star) by the Ministry for Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs, Sri Lanka.

Motilal Jotwani is the writer of around fifty books in Sindhi, Hindi and English. He has a doctorate in Sindhi and is a reader at Deshbandhu College, New Delhi. He was the editor of Indian Author, a quarterly jounral of the Author's Guild of India, New Delhi. He has received numerous prizes and awards and has been honoured by the President of India for services to Sindhi literature.

N S Madhavan is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature.

Piyaseeli Wijemanne has seven short story collections, one novel and more than thirty research papers to her credit. She has also translated two books into Sinhala and edited two collections of research papers. Several of her short stories have been translated into English. She has received three State Literary Awards for short stories. She was an Associate Professor of Sinhala at the University of Colombo and later served as the Dean of the Department.

She is undoubtedly one of the most gifted and accomplished amongst the contemporary short story writers and novelists in Orissa. She has an impressive corpus of eighteen novels, several short story collections, one travelogue, nine books for children and ten for neo-literates. She has received numerous awards and honours, including the Orissa Sahitya Akademi Award (1985) for her novel Shilapadma, the Sarala Award for her novel Yajnaseni, the Katha Award for Creative Fiction for the story “Shapya” (1994) and the Biswv Award (1995) for her contribution to Oriya literature. She is also the first woman to receive the Moorti Devi Award of the Bharatiya Jnanpith (1991) for her path-breaking work, Yajnaseni.

R Chudamani has in excess of thirty-five books in Tamil, which include novels, plays, novellas and short stories. Her stories have been translated into English and other Indian languages and are included in anthologies. She received the Tamil Nadu Government Award, twice, and the Lily Devashikhamani Prize for her short story collection.

Dr Saleem Agha Qazilbash is an essayist, writer, poet, critic and translator from Pakistan.

Shanta Gokhale has to her credit several short stories, a novel and a play besides her scripts for many award-winning documentary films and a feature film. Her novel Rita Welingkar won the V S Khandekar Award for the best novel. Her latest work, Playwright at the Centre has been much acclaimed. She has translated poetry, fiction and drama from Marathi into English, including her own play and award-winning novel. A theatre critic and cultural columnist, she has also been the Arts Editor of the The Times of India and the sub-editor of Femina.

Sharad Chhetri is a short story writer, poet and novelist, with around twenty books to his credit. He has received many prizes, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Bhanu Bhakta Puraskar, and the Ratna Shree Suvarna Padak.

Suvarna has several short stories, articles on various issues and a novel to her credit. A freelance journalist and social activist, she is proficient in several languages and has a keen interest in the fine arts.

Usha Mahajan has several short story collections for adults and children to her credit. She has extensively translated Khushwant Singh's works to Hindi, as well as authored his biographical profile. She received the Delhi Hindi Academy Award for Children's Literature and the K K Birla Foundation Fellowship.