Rashad Hosein Recently won Reed Magazine’s John Steinbeck Award for Fiction For His short Story “Saga”
Kimberly Wallace
THESE are exciting times for writer Rashad Hosein who is proving to be a force to be reckoned with in the literary world. Hosein, who is in the middle of writing his first novel, recently won Reed Magazine’s John Steinbeck Award for Fiction for his short story “Saga”. It is his first major literary award.
Those charting the progress of the emerging writer would say that his achievements thus far are nothing short of impressive. Almost a year ago his short story “English at the End of Time” was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. It was the second time Hosein was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers prize. In 2019, his short story “Oats” was also shortlisted. In 2020, he was a finalist for a regional prize, the BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Caribbean Writers. And last year he was also longlisted for another international award—the Galley Beggar Press Prize.
“Saga” is set in the late 1920s at a remote fishing village in Trinidad and tells the story of two young men—Sham and Ali—as they mourn the loss of their friend, Sanjeev “Saga” Ganguly. It takes place during the one-year anniversary of his death as the two try to honour their friend, unravel their guilt, and understand what went wrong, explained Hosein. They journey back to where they skinned a whale three years ago, at Bulmer’s Bay on Chacachacare, and wander the wreckage of the abandoned whaling station, reminiscing about their friend, he added.
“It’s a story about loss, grieving and trauma, but also the lasting psychological effects of colonialism, exploitation, and indentureship. It also explores a largely overlooked part of Trinidadian history: our whaling industry. The story is set a few decades after it fell apart, but its legacies are present,” said Hosein.
Following the announcement that Hosein had won the John Steinbeck Award for Fiction, one commentary on Reed magazine’s website noted that “Saga” is an atmospheric and immersive story that makes us wonder as John Steinbeck wrote, “how many people we’ve looked at all our lives and never seen”.
“It’s a big honour and I’m humbled. Steinbeck’s Mice and Men and Cannery Row were two important books for me,” said Hosein as he reflected on his first major literary win. Saga is also the first story in Trinidadian English Creole that Reed magazine will be publishing. It will be available in May, but it can be pre-ordered on their website, reedmag.org.
“It’s a big honour and I’m humbled. Steinbeck’s Mice and Men and Cannery Row were two important books for me,” said Hosein as he reflected on his first major literary win.
Saga is also the first story in Trinidadian English Creole that Reed magazine will be publishing. It will be available in May, but it can be pre-ordered on their website, reedmag.org.
The word “inspiration” is bandied about a lot especially when the subject of creativity is involved but Hosein acknowledges that he doesn’t sit around waiting for inspiration.
“If I don’t work, I’m not inspired. For me, it’s never about waiting for inspiration. To be a writer, you need discipline,” he said.
Hosein is always busy working on a project, in fact if he’s not writing, he’s reading and researching. Research is essential for his stories although he admitted that much of it doesn’t actually make its way into his writing.
“Apart from raw facts, research helps to understand the nuance of an issue. Depth of understanding feeds into everything—characters, setting, plot, etc,” he added.
Hosein is currently working on his novel Gulf of the Whale and was fortunate to get representation from the Eve White Literary Agency in the UK.
“Gulf of the Whale is set in Port of Spain during the late 1950s and follows the prodigious 32-year-old playwright and theatre director, Ishmael Kareem, as he struggles to complete what he is convinced is his “magnum opus”. Driven to
maddening obsession, he abandons his theatre company to write in isolation, but his mental state deteriorates, made worse by chronic liver pain and an intensifying addiction to painkillers,” said Hosein. “The novel is titled after the name of his play, the events of which are narrated in a dramatic third person. The play takes place in 1864 during the decline of Trinidad’s whaling industry and follows the doomed expedition of five men and their elderly captain as they hunt whales in the Bocas for an American soap company.”
Hosein recently revisited Moby Dick while working on his manuscript. He recommends the classic which he said is one of the most original books he has ever read.
“There aren’t many books like it,” said Hosein. “It’s poetic, experimental, ambitious, and strange. Perhaps the strangest book I’ve read.”
