Announcing the Spring 2019 Aura Estrada Short Story Contest Winner

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Spring 2019 Aura Estrada Short Story Contest, selected by judge Alexander Chee.

Congratulations to Neshat Khan, who won for her story “The Neighbors.” Khan also receives a $1,500 prize.

Chee writes, “‘The Neighbors’ is the story of two women figuring out the nature of a desire they don’t have words for, inventing a world between them before bringing it down. Told in the spare language of a fairy tale, set a little outside of time, it is, sentence by sentence, a stark evocation of the game they make between them, the stakes of which are their entire lives. Reading it, I experienced the thrill that is finding yourself in the presence of an important new talent.”

You can read the story here.

In addition, Chee chose two runners-up: Abigail Rose’s “White Coffins”; and Carolyn Byrne’s “In the Dollhouse Underground.” We’re delighted to be publishing them today alongside Khan’s story.

Our contest honors Aura Estrada (1977–2007), a promising young Mexican writer and student and wife of the writer Francisco Goldman. Boston Review published several of her works. More on her life and writing can be found here.

And keep an eye out for a major announcement in the next couple weeks about changes to how Boston Review publishes creative writing and conducts its contests!