New short fiction by Rushdiyah Narker, a Paulet House writer who attended the 2025 Kommadagga workshop, won the annual Science Fiction and Fantasy South Africa (SFFSA) Nova Short Story Competition.
“The first thing I asked when Gail called me to say I won was, ‘Are you for real?’ ha ha. I am elated to have won this competition. Especially with this story,” said Rushdiyah. “I’m still a bit shocked at the win, but am embracing the celebration.”
This competition is for budding writers of science fiction and fantasy short stories and is open for entry from April until 30 September annually. Rushdiyah’s story will be among the winning entries, finalists and selected other entries published in the March edition of Probe, the club’s fanzine that has been in circulation since the late 1960s.
“This story is special to me because I wrote it as an experiment, dipping my toes into the genre of magic, but set in the familiar world with a main character who looks and sounds like me. To win this competition means that stories like these, set in a suburb in Cape Town with a coloured woman as the main character, can be for a wider audience.”
Read an extract from her story The Corner Shop below:
Ann asks, “Did you see the news?”
I frown. Ann only brings up the big stuff from the news. I shake my head as I put her things in a bigger bag.
“Ja, the government wants everyone to register,” she says.
“Isn’t that what ID’s are for?” I scoff as I take her money and give her change.
Elbow on the counter, she explains. “No man. You know mos.” She lifts her fingers and wiggles them in front of me. She leans in and whispers. “The one with Magic.”
I pretend to be shocked for other reasons. “Now?”
“Ja, it’s serious. If they find someone hiding a Magic wilder, a welder, uh, what is it now again?” she huffs, annoyed at herself trying to say Magic Wielder. Throwing her hand out, she says, “A heks, man,” she says, tossing her hand out. “They’re gonna go to jail.”
I blink at her, letting the threat settle over me. No one knows about me, about what I can do.
The Nova Short Story Competition is co-sponsored by Arthur Goldstuck of WorldWideWorx, South Africa’s leading independent technology research and strategy organisation.
Rushdiyah is currently working on two new novels. One is called Mukallaf, based on her masters research about what it’s like to live with endometriosis. The other is a standalone sequel to her first novel, Some Unspoken Thing. She is also trying her hand at short stories in different genres.
Below are some photos of her time at Paulet House.
