Subraj Singh, a Guyanese writer, is the Caribbean regional winner of the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. His winning piece pays homage to Guyanese folklore.
Singh competed against a whopping 7,920 other entrants around the world. His piece placed him on a shortlist and made him the winner for the Caribbean.
‘Margot’s Run’ is the writer’s winning story. It is set in rural Guyana and is about a mother’s perseverance to get help for her infant son, whose skin bears concerning scratches. In the story, Margot seeks help from two old women in the village, Estelle and Bhanu, to vanquish whatever has been troubling the child.
A majority of the characters- all except the infant boy- are women.
Subraj Singh
The baby’s blood was being sucked by an old woman who later escapes in a ball of fire, paying homage to the Guyanese folklore of the Ole Higue.
The Ole Higue is a supernatural creature who feeds on the blood of the innocent and escapes in a ball of fire. As penned correctly in Singh’s story, she also has limitations which include rice, garlic, onions and peppers.
The Ole Higue usually sheds her skin to count rice grains. When the creature did that in Singh’s story, Estelle and Bhanu capitalised on the opportunity to use the garlic, onions and peppers to burn the creature.
“I wanted to capture the solidarity that exists between women in Guyana.
“When I was growing up, it was quite common for women to get together to help each other out whether it was with children or to do something else. I wanted to represent that solidarity and the strength that it is,” Singh told the News Room.
The events of the story also took place, quite surprisingly, on the night Guyana gained Independence from England. Singh carefully chose to write this way.
“Writing about colonialism is very important to me because I think a lot of things people in Guyana struggle with are rooted in colonialism and for a very long time Guyana was exploited by Europe and the consequences of that exploitation still remains,” Subraj explained.
He also highlighted that he used the Ole Higue as symbolism; it was a nod to the struggle Guyana faced during British rule.
His storytelling evidently captured the attention of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize judging team.
But Singh was quite surprised when he found out that he won regionally. He revealed that the competition was tough and that this was his third year entering.
Singh, renowned as a prolific writer, offered some advice to young writers in his interview with the News Room.
He advises young writers to present their work to people before submitting to obtain feedback so that possible errors can be identified and improved.
Other regional winners for 2025 include: Joshua Lubwama from Uganda, Africa Region, Faria Basher from Bangladesh, Asia Region, Chanel Sutherland from Canada/Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Canada and Europe Region, Kathleen Ridgwell from Australia, Pacific Region.
The overall winner of the Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize is yet to be announced.
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