Kitaab is seeking short story submissions for The Best Asian Short Stories 2020 anthology, the latest in the annual TBASS series of anthologies which aims to celebrate the Asian short story as a constantly evolving, innovative and vibrant mode of literary expression.
The focus of our 2020 issue is climate change and migration but stories on other themes will be considered too. As usual, we are looking for well-crafted stories that ignite the imagination of the reader and have the ability to suck in the reader into the universe of the story.
This time we are only considering submissions written directly in English in our attempt to capture the voice of the contemporary Asian writer. The anthology will be published in the last quarter of 2020.
What’s different this year?
This year we are making all the stories from the current and past volumes of TBASS available on a special website, tbass.org. It will be a subscription-based website and all the selected stories will be hosted on this site. The best three stories (decided by the editor) will get cash prizes or Kitaab vouchers (worth $50 each)! All selected contributors will each receive complimentary one-year subscription to the tbass.org site, where they can access stories from all the available volumes.
This year onwards, we will also select some web-extra stories: these will be stories will that not make it to the TBASS 2020 edition but will be published as Web specials. This gives you more chance of exposure to your stories, even if they don’t get selected for the main printed volume.
The Best Asian Short Stories 2020 anthology will be edited by Zafar Anjum, the founder of Kitaab, Singapore, and the Series Editor for TBASS. Anjum is a writer, publisher and filmmaker who has authored many bestsellers such as The Resurgence of Satyam (Random House India, 2012), Startup Capitals: Discovering the Global Hotspots of Innovation (Random House India, December 2014), and Iqbal: The Life of a Poet, Philosopher and Politician (Vintage Books/Random House India, 2014). He has published two collections of his short stories, The Singapore Decalogue (Red Wheelbarrow Press, 2012) and Kafka in Ayodhya & Other Stories(Kitaab, 2015).
Submissions between 3000-5000 words should be e-mailed to kitaab.sg@gmail.com.
Eligibility
Asians of all nationalities living anywhere in the world are eligible. By ‘Asian writers’, we mean all writers who belong to the continent of Asia. Non-Asian authors who have resided in and written extensively about an Asian country will also be considered.
Submission fee (until 31 March): S$10 per submission
Submission fee (1-15 April 2020): S$20 per submission
All submissions must be made together with the submission fee receipt or screenshot paid here at Kitaabstore.
(for fee waiver requests in case of financial difficulties, pls write to us at kitaab.sg@gmail.com)
Format
Submissions must be MSWORD (.doc/.docx) attachments, typed double spaced in legible fonts, preferably Times New Roman 12. The submission should also be pasted within the body of the covering mail. The subject line of the email should read as:
Submission/TBASS2020/author’s name. Please include an author bio note of 100 words. Only one submission will be considered from each writer.
Previously published work in print or online (including blogs, magazines or other online fora) will not be accepted. Translations are not encouraged but simultaneous submissions will be considered. Please intimate us immediately if the story is accepted elsewhere.
Deadline: April 15, 2020
