Cecil Browne has won the 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the Canada and Europe category.
The 65-year-old former maths teacher, who moved to the UK from St Vincent and the Grenadines as a teenager wrote ‘A Hat for Lemer’ which is set in his native Caribbean.
Commenting on his win Cecil says,
"Discovering that I was the regional winner filled me with a private joy, but this quickly turned into the kind of joy I experience when the family is together for some function, all three generations, along with our close friends. ‘A Hat for Lemer’ portrays early Vincentian society, and the dilemma Lemer faces as she seeks to define a role for herself within that society. The story is dear to me. Within it are people with energy and drive, optimists negotiating a world restricting and modern."
The full list of regional winners were:
Africa: ‘and the earth drank deep’ by Ntsika Kota (Eswatini)
Asia: ‘The Last Diver on Earth’ by Sofia Mariah Ma (Singapore)
Canada and Europe: ‘A Hat for Lemer’ by Cecil Browne (United Kingdom/St Vincent and the Grenadines)
Caribbean:‘ Bridge over the Yallahs River’ by Diana McCaulay (Jamaica)
Pacific: ‘The Nightwatch’ by Mary Rokonadravu (Fiji)
They will now be put forward for the 2022 overall winner, which will be announced in an online ceremony on 1pm, Tuesday 21 June, and at a special event as part of the Commonwealth People’s Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.
Cecil Browne
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