Portside Review announced the Human Rights Essay Prize shortlist for 2024, and among them is South African writer, Keletso Mopai. In no particular order, here are the shortlisted writers.
- Atul Joshi – ‘Wild Mohini’
- Dani Netherclift – ‘Read as a Boy’
- Dominic Carpio – ‘Blood-red Tags: Red-Tagging and Ruling by Fear in the Philippines’
- EJ Clarence – ‘Feathered on the Breath of Chance’
- Elaine Pratley – ‘When sandwiches and fish feed peace’
- Ella Holmes – ‘Atlas, Rats, and Writing the Candle’
- Gracia Ayni Warella – ‘Here I Am, Disempowered’
- Keletso Mopai – ‘How (Not) to Talk About Colorism’
- Kirsten Han – ‘Singapore Will Always Be At War’
- Salil Tripathi – ‘Justice and Human Rights in the Age of Surveillance’
- Sara Gingold – ‘Legitimately Ill’
- Stevie Lane – ‘Trans Rights are Human Rights’
With submissions from across the Indian Ocean and beyond, judges John Ryan, Sampurna Chattarji and Frances An have selected 12 essays from a pool of over 150 submissions. Essay themes ranged from racism, climate action, forced adoption, genocide, food security, women’s rights, war, migration, trans rights and more.
Portside Review is a literary journal produced by Centre for Stories, and funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Australian Government, the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries of the State Government of Western Australia, Creative Australia, and the Centre for Stories Founders’ Circle.
The winner will be announced and published in Portside Review in July 2024. The winner will receive AUD $5,000, flights to Perth Western Australia, and will deliver a lecture on their essay’s topic.
- First Place: AUD $5,000 + flight to Perth, Western Australia
- Second Place: AUD $1,000
- Shortlisted essays: AUD $250
All shortlisted essays will be published in Portside Review.
Congratulations to Keletso and all the brilliant writers who made the shortlist!
Click here to read more on the magazine.
Bongiwe T. Maphosa
Bongiwe Maphosa is a writer whose fiction and poetry offers fresh, imaginative perspectives on the human condition. Her work has been published in prominent literary spaces, including Isele Magazine, Akowdee Magazine, the AVBOB Poetry Anthology, Journal of African Youth in Literature (JAY Lit), and more. She was also nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology. Bongiwe is one of six writers selected for the inaugural Caine Prize Online Editing program and serves as a content writer, peer reviewer, and tier three awards judge for JAYLit. Bridging inner reflection with speculative worlds, she continues to carve out a distinctive voice within contemporary African literature for a growing global audience.
