Shastri Akella, on winning the 2025 literary prize:
Ottessa Moshfegh called Shastri's story: ‘Tender... & haunting.’
You can read an interview with Shastri on our website & download his story as part of Eleven Stories 2025
www.desperateliterature.com/prize
Open until April 19th!
For all the info and to enter see:
desperateliterature.com/prize
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You can find our previously shortlisted stories here!
desperateliterature.com/product/full...
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Check out some testimonials!
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Shortlisters have the chance to be published in one of our partner journals.
25.01.2026 16:17 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
40 full and 60 half-fee sponsored entries available through us! Additional free entries are being offered by our sponsors: Spread the Word, Helter Skelter, @cipherpress.bsky.social and @thelitconsultancy.bsky.social
See website to learn how to apply desperateliterature.com/prize
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The 2026 Prize is judged by Claire-Louise Bennett, Ottessa Moshfegh and Joanna Walsh.
For a chance to get your work in front of their eyes, enter at: desperateliterature.com/prize
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OTHER PRIZES
☑️ €1000 (2 Runners up)
☑️ 10-day residency at Desperate Literature
☑️ Invitation to the European Writers Salon, Berlin
☑️ access to @thelitconsultancy.bsky.social's "Being a Writer" platform
☑️ Translation into Spanish
☑️ Short Story Clinic
desperateliterature.com/prize
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"Civitella Ranieri was beyond anything I could have expected. The castle and the grounds are straight out of a fairy-tale, every window is an entrance to scenery that inspires. But what makes it such an amazing place to go are the people." Paige Cowan-Hall, 2021 Winner
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WINNER :
☑️ 2000€
☑️ A week at the magnificent 15th C. Castle: Civitella Ranieri
☑️ Meeting with agent Charlotte Seymour
@charlotteseymour.bsky.social
☑️ Pub. in Eleven Stories + one of 9 partner journals desperateliterature.com/prize
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2026 PRIZE NOW OPEN 💫
Calling writers of innovative fiction under 2000 words!
Prizes: €2000 / 1000€; residencies
@civitellaitaly & at DL in Madrid; manuscript assessment with @thelitconsultancy.bsky.social; publication; salons; and more...
desperateliterature.com/prize
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THE 2025 SHORTLIST:
"Generous, soulful distillations. A tasting flight of prosaic kerosene. Each story ignited a flare in a forsaken corner of my mind. I can’t wait to experience more from these voices."
—Henry Hoke, judge
Get the pdf or pre-order the book: desperateliterature.com/product/elev...
Ottessa Moshfegh said of the winning story: a "tender and haunting" story exploring "themes of isolation, vulnerability, and connection across literal and figurative borders."
Akella was a recipient of a sponsored entry to the prize and his tale of queer love and ghosts won our hearts.
ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS of the 2025 Short Fiction Prize
Shastri Akella takes the winning spot with ‘The Border Country,' a ‘tender and haunting’ story of queer love on the Kashmir border.
Runners-up are Swithun Cooper and Alisha Dietzman.
THE LAST DAY TO ENTER!
Prizes: €2000 & 1000€, residencies
at Civitella Ranieri and (NEW) at DL in Madrid, a manuscript assessment w/ @thelitconsultancy.bsky.social, publication, salons, and more...
desperateliterature.com/prize
@minorlits.bsky.social recently ran an interview with our judge Henry Hoke: tinyurl.com/5dck3a6n
"What is urgent to the writer? That’s really exciting to me in judging. I’m a small plates person. I like a little concentrated bite of something."
Submit your work: desperateliterature.com/prize
Read 2024 shortlister Preeti Vangani's @preetivangani.bsky.social's story 'Gods of Fathers' :
minorliteratures.com/2024/11/06/g...
Other shortlisters in @minorlits.bsky.social include Andrea Mason @andreamason.bsky.social, Stephen Lynch, and Young Rader.
🔥Partner Journal Shoutout🔥
Presenting Minor Literature(s)
@minorlits.bsky.social, an online journal specializing in experimental prose.
Surprising, bold, cutting-edge, vital...
For a chance to have your work published by this literary great, submit today:
desperateliterature.com/prize
Last year's runner-up Amanda Hildebrandt had her story 'No Safe Place' published by the journal. In 2021, Phillippa Finkemeyer's 'Cables' got selected. Read these and other stories from the prize with our partner journals!
desperateliterature.com/previous-win...
Submit your own stories now!
⚡Partner Journal Shoutout⚡
Kill Your Darlings
Next up is Australian mag @kydmagazine.bsky.social! They're so much more than a lit journal. They have a whole spectrum of editorial services, classes, and content meant to help writers reach their full potential.
desperateliterature.com/prize
ONLY THREE DAYS LEFT
Polish those stories!
www.desperateliterature.com/prize
You can read many previously shortlisted stories for free on our website, and you can also buy the books!
The Eleven Stories anthologies 2018-2024 are available in pdf or print form.
Buying a copy gets you a discount on your 2025 entry 😉
desperateliterature.com/product/sext...
Hear what 2024 winner Sukie Wilson and runner-up
@richiejones.bsky.social have to say about the Prize...
desperateliterature.com/prize
Shortlisters have the chance to be published in one of our partner journals.
This year, we are working with @minorlits.bsky.social, @gorsejournal.bsky.social, Kill Your Darlings, Helter Skelter, Protoype, @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social & Tenement Press.
desperateliterature.com/prize
The 2025 Prize is judged by Mariana Enríquez, Henry Hoke (@henryhoke.bsky.social), and Ottessa Moshfegh.
For a chance to get your work in front of their eyes, enter at desperateliterature.com/prize
OTHER PRIZES
✅10-day residency at Desperate Literature
✅Invitation to the European Writers Salon, Brussels (@saloneurope.bsky.social)
✅1-yr access to @thelitconsultancy.bsky.social
"Being a Writer" platform
desperateliterature.com/prize
RUNNERS-UP:
✅1000€
✅Pub. in Eleven Stories + one of 7 partner journals
✅Fame&Glory
✅Meeting with agent @teddyfromtheblock.bsky.social
(Johnson & Alcock)
desperateliterature.com/prize
WINNER
✅2000€
✅A week at the magnificent Civitella Ranieri residency
✅Manuscript assessment with @thelitconsultancy.bsky.social and meeting with agent @teddyfromtheblock.bsky.social
(Johnson & Alcock)
✅Pub. in Eleven Stories + one of 7 partner journals
desperateliterature.com/prize
ONE WEEK LEFT TO ENTER!
Prizes: €2000 & 1000€, residencies
Civitella Ranieri and (NEW) at DL in Madrid, manuscript assessment w/ @thelitconsultancy.bsky.social, publication, salons, and more...
desperateliterature.com/prize
You can read our winners' stories online with Tenement Press and others on our page and theirs.
For a chance to get your work published, submit until April 30! Judged this year by Ottessa Moshfegh, @henryhoke.bsky.social , and Mariana Enriquez.
desperateliterature.com/prize
