The New Indian Express: Meet the people who make the word go around
https://www.newindianexpress.com/education/edex/2016/jul/18/Meet-the-people-who-make-the-word-go-around-882293.htmlDNA: For the love of the written word
https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-for-the-love-of-the-written-word-1747115The New Indian Express: Everyone has a story to tell; it takes skill to write that story
https://www.newindianexpress.com/education/edex/2016/jul/18/%E2%80%98Everybody-has-a-story.-It-takes-skill-to-write-that-story%E2%80%99-882295.htmlTimes of India: Can writing be taught?
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/Can-writing-be-taught-Workshops-say-yes/articleshow/49958603.cmsThe New Indian Express: So do you want to write?
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2012/oct/09/so-do-you-want-to-write-413531.htmlWe are the city: Inspirational woman: Bhumika Anand
https://wearethecity.in/inspirational-woman-bhumika-anand-founder-and-director-bangalore-writers-workshop-bww/Women’s Web: Day in the life of an entrepreneur: Bhumika Anand, Bangalore Writers Workshop (BWW)
https://www.womensweb.in/2015/04/day-in-the-life-of-an-entrepreneur-bhumika-anand-bangalore-writers-workshop/Delphi Quarterly: Interview with the founders of Bangalore Writers Workshop (BWW)
https://delphiquarterly.com/recent-issues/current-issue/bangalore-writers-workshop/Deccan Herald: Bitten by the writing bug
https://www.deccanherald.com/content/506218/bitten-writing-bug.htmlSpark, the magazine: You simply cannot become a good writer if you don’t also read voraciously
http://www.sparkthemagazine.com/you-simply-cannot-become-a-good-writer-if-you-dont-also-read-voraciously-bhumika-anand/WetInk: Why WetInk? An interview with Bhumika Anand
https://blog.wet.ink/why-wetink-bhumika/Kamalini Natesan: Women of Substance: Bhumika Anand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGPlPbrKHCoShom Biswas: How to write convincing dialogues
https://shomb.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/writing-tips-writing-dialogues-how-to-sound-convincing/Fucklove: The ‘write’ stuff
https://fu-ck-lo-ve.blogspot.com/2013/03/Vaibhav Kakkar: Top 7 writing courses
https://www.vaibhavk.com/creative-writing-courses-in-bangalore/Advisor Uncle: Top 7 content writing workshops in India
https://advisoruncle.com/top-7-content-writing-workshops-to-attend/The Himalayan Writing Retreat: Top writing courses in India
https://www.himalayanwritingretreat.com/top-writing-courses-in-india/
THE BWW SHORT STORY AWARD
The BWW Short Story Award celebrates and nurtures new writing voices, particularly in short fiction, in English. The best short stories offer a unique insight of the world and its people, while also capturing the cultural and societal concerns of a particular time and place.
The award will consist of a cash prize and a plaque, which will be awarded at the Bangalore Literary Festival (BLF).
The winning entry will be discussed at the BWW Short Story Community event at Atta Galatta (AG).
The award also offers the winner an opportunity to enrol in a no-cost workshop with the Bangalore Writers Workshop (BWW).
The plaque, called the R K Anand Prize, is a memorial tribute to a simple, artistic man whose worldview was always tinged with kindness, empathy, and joy. We are using his artwork for the plaque.
OUR JURY
Indira Chandrasekhar
Indira Chandrasekhar is a writer, literary curator and founder and principal editor of the award-winning literary journal Out of Print. An anthology marking ten years of the magazine was published with Westland Books in 2020 and reissued in 2023. A collection of her short stories Polymorphism that draws on concepts she explored as a research scientist was published by HarperCollins. She has translated the award-winning collection of Dadapeer Jyman from Kannada into English. She is the principal author of Celebrating the Arts: Forty Years of the International Music and Arts Society in Bangalore brought out by the Society in 2023.
Brinda Charry
Brinda Charry was born in Chennai and raised in Bangalore. She has lived in the United States for 25 years but returns very frequently to Bangalore and spends several months of the year in the city. She is a Professor of English and author of four novels, a collection of short-fiction, as well as a body of academic work. Her early creative work received the Katha Award for Creative Fiction, the India Plaza Golden Quill Award, and prizes in the BBC Short Story Competition, the Asian Age, Hindu-Picador and Commonwealth Broadcasting Association short story contests. Her novel The East Indian (2023) was shortlisted for the Crossword Prize in India and the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize in the USA, longlisted for the JCB prize in India and the Mark Twain Voice in American Literature Prize in the USA. It won the Society of American’s Historians’ Prize for Historical Fiction. Her latest novel, Hocus Pocus, inspired by Indian stage magicians who performed in England and America in the 1800s, has recently been published by Scribner, USA and Hachette India.
Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Lavanya Lakshminarayan is the first Indian woman to be shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. She’s a multi-award winning novelist and short story writer, and the author of The Ten Percent Thief--first published in South Asia as Analog/ Virtual, and listed on Esquire Magazine’s 75 Best Sci Fi Books of All-Time. She’s a Locus Award finalist, and a winner of the Times of India AutHer Award and the Valley of Words Award. She’s also the author of Interstellar MegaChef--an Amazon Editor’s Pick, listed on ReacTor’s Best Books of 2024, and Intergalactic Feast. Her work has been translated into multiple languages, including French, Italian, Catalan, and Japanese, and her short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. She’s occasionally a game designer, and has created worlds for FarmVille and Mafia Wars, among other games. Lavanya lives between Bangalore and Hyderabad. When she isn’t travelling or writing, she spends her free time playing video-games and the piano.
Submission Guidelines
- Submitted work must be a short story in English.
- There is no theme for the competition.
- Submitted work must not be published elsewhere including blogs, social media, and the like.
- Simultaneous submissions are NOT accepted, i.e., you cannot enter the same story in another competition or magazine or literary journal, till the winner is announced.
- Multiple submissions are accepted, i.e., the same person can send many stories.
- Stories should be between 1000 and 4000 words but in special cases, editorial discretion may be applied.
- We invite stories that are detailed, craft-intensive, and that look at the world we inhabit with openness and empathy, or as we say, stories with a lot of heart.
- We discourage material that includes erotica, rampant racism, or hateful accounts of sensitive subjects such as religion, caste, gender, or sexuality, or works that are offensive or excessively violent.
- In your entry email, please include the following contact information: name, postal address, email address and telephone number. Please provide a brief biographical sketch in the third person of no more than 150 words. Please include a self-attestation stating that:
- the entry being submitted has not been published elsewhere, particularly in an anthology of short stories.
- You are not an author who has previously published a novel(s) or a collection of short stories. If you have self-published a book, that is alright. If you have been featured in an anthology of short stories, that is alright too.
- If you are an international or non-Bangalore-based participant and win the competition, you will have to make your own travel and accommodation arrangements, should you wish to travel for the prize ceremony, or nominate someone in Bangalore to collect the prize on your behalf. If this is the case, please mention the details in your entry email.
- In the attachment, (word doc or pdf format only. File Name: The R K Anand Prize 2026, Name of Story) kindly mention the title of your story and the number of words at the top of the page. Remember to number your pages and please DO NOT mention your name on the story document.
- Please email the above details with your story/ attachment/s to bangalorewritersworkshopbww@gmail.com Subject line should contain 'The BWW Short Story Award Submission 2026' only.
- Copyright remains with the author. Should your piece be published again, we request the courtesy of an acknowledgement stating that the piece was first published in Out of Print Blog and was the winning entry or a Special Mention or in the Short List at The BWW Short Story Award Competition.
What is the prize for the winning entry?
The author of the winning entry will be announced at the Bangalore Literature Festival, and awarded a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 and a plaque.
The winner will receive an unconditional offer to have their story feature in The Out of Print Magazine Blog in a separate section dedicated solely for this prize.
The winning entry will be discussed at the BWW Short Story Community event at Atta Galatta. The winner also gets a no-cost enrolment to the BWW Classic course offered by the Bangalore Writers Workshop. If the winner is an existing BWW community member, they can choose any of the other courses offered at BWW.
There will be no runners-up. We will, however, announce a shortlist.
What is the eligibility criteria to participate?
All persons, above the age of 18, are eligible to submit. As we are trying to provide a platform for emerging writers, authors who have previously published a novel(s) or an anthology of short stories are requested not to apply. If you have self-published a book, that is alright.
Note: the story being submitted for consideration should NOT have been published on any platform (online or offline).
If you are an international or non-Bangalore-based participant and win the competition, you will have to make your own travel and accommodation arrangements, should you wish to travel for the prize ceremony, or nominate someone in Bangalore to collect the prize on your behalf. If this is the case, please mention it in your entry email.
Can I submit more than one story?
Yes, we will accept multiple submissions.
What is the deadline for submission?
Please send in your story by 10 am IST October 20, 2026.
Is there any theme or a word limit?
You are free to write any short fiction story in English. There is no theme. The maximum word limit is 4000 words (spaces not included).
We invite stories that are detailed, craft-intensive, and that look at the world we inhabit with openness and empathy, or as we say, stories with a lot of heart. Please read the Submission Guidelines for more details.
How do I submit my entry?
Please read the Submission Guidelines.
Is there a submission format?
Yes! Please read the Submission Guidelines.
Who do I contact if I have any questions?
There should be no questions if you adhere to the Submission Guidelines. Please submit your entry. All the best.
The BWW Short Story Prize 2025
Our Jury
Indira Chandrasekhar (Jury Head), Sonora Jha, and Tanuj Solanki
Our winner
Ratul Ghosh for Shiuli
Special Mention
Archana Nair for The House of Witches
Our Shortlist
Aditi Chandrasekar : Cycle
Amit Prabhakar : The Night Stories Ended
Krishan Shetty : The Thread Remembers
Malcolm Carvalho : Ambhibians by Night
Pallavi Chelluri : The Purse
Ritika Bali : The Things we Leave Unsaid
Sonu Sabir : A Place Lost in Time
Sonu Sabir : Death Reimagined
You can read all these stories on the Out of Print Blog here : !Click Me
The BWW Short Story Prize 2024
Our Jury
Indira Chandrasekhar (Jury Head), Jahnavi Barua, Saikat Majumdar
Our winner
Vrinda Baliga for Breakout
Special Mention
Salini Vineeth for The Diamond Needle
Our Shortlist
Aditi Chandrasekar : Reflection
Anannya Nath : Fall of Icarus
Anjani Raj : Mat
Bashari Chakraborti : Of Bala and Me
Nayana Ravishankar : Repast
Sumanya Velamur : Cold to Touch
You can read all these stories on the Out of Print Blog here : !Click Me
About BWW
Bangalore Writers Workshop (BWW), is a first-of-its-kind writing and storytelling school, established in 2011 that fosters the creative mind and encourages a community of writers.
About Out of Print Magazine
Out of Print is an online platform for short fiction with a connection to the Indian subcontinent. It is published quarterly and features work in English, or translated into English. The first issue of the magazine was released in September 2010.
A list of contributors to Out of Print is featured on the Out of Print blog and includes a range of writers, from the famous to the well-established to those publishing for the first time. A number of writers who published in Out of Print have gone on to successful publishing careers, winning awards and accolades, with work from the magazine featuring in their books.
About Atta Galatta
Atta Galatta (AG) is an independent Indian language bookstore and events space. Nestled in the quiet streets of Indiranagar, AG offers an experiential space to shop through a curated collection of books and attend a wide range of community-centric events.