Amira Shimin

Proof of great writing is always found in the work of Amira Shimin, who this year became a three-time winner in the writing competition, having also won prizes in 2019 and 2020. This year Amira, the daughter of Mohammad Kashem, who works in the Conrad Downtown, took first place in the narrative category with a fictional account of the 1947 partition of India as told by a teenage girl. There are reasons Amira is a three-time winner. Her writing flows smoothly and intelligently, and at the same time has a heartbeat. The partition of India was one of the greatest catastrophes of the colonial era, the ramifications of which are still felt today. We won't rehash all the brutalities that occurred during and after the partition, but Amira does a superb job recounting this shameful episode in history through the heartfelt narration of a young girl whose family is witnessing the debacle. We congratulate Amira on her first place prize of $1,500 in the narrative category. Her writing continues to amaze us and we wonder if we should begin looking forward to her first novel, perhaps sometime in the not-too-distant future.