Chanel Sutherland was named overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and will receive £5,000 (about $6,865) for "Descend," in which enslaved Africans share their life stories as the ship transporting them sinks. The literary magazine Granta has published all the regional winning stories, which will also be available in a special print collection from Paper + Ink.
Chair of judges Dr. Vilsoni Hereniko commented: "Told in the quiet voice of a seer, 'Descend' is deep and profound. It tells the story of slaves packed like sardines in the hull of a sinking ship, an allegory that affirms the unrivalled power of storytelling to set our spirits free and find hope where none exists."
Sutherland said: "My love for storytelling began before I even fully understood what a story was--I only knew they made me feel something, and I wanted to make others feel it too. Back in Saint Vincent, I used to scrawl my earliest stories into the sand in our yard, knowing they'd be washed away by rain or footsteps. Winning feels deeply affirming--as if that little girl scribbling in the sand was always right to believe that stories mattered.
"I took a risk with 'Descend'--its shape, its voices--because I believed every enslaved person deserves to have their story told with dignity. I can't tell all the stories, or restore the lives that were stolen, but I'm humbled that this one resonates."