4th Write Prize 2023

Back of House: “The Chef de Cuisine of The Mating Clinic” The first thing that Bisi noticed as she walked through the doors of the Kensington branch ofThe Mating Clinic was the smell. Her mother had told her that years ago, when the clinics were part ofthe publicly… Read More

Listen here, you rancid, buck-toothed beast: I’ve done nothing but love you! I’d drive my rose gold Bentley off a cliff for you. Set my best wig ablaze and don it if youasked. Rip off my acrylics, nails beds and all, and lay them at your feet like some unholy… Read More

I met him at the corner of Kobayashi street in central Tokyo. It was easy to find him, despite theswarm of people. He was leaning against the wall beside the entrance to a soba restaurant, his rightleg jiggling, his nails between his teeth. No local would have expressed their agitation… Read More

What I loved most about Florence, besides her intoxicating smell, was her clothes. Frombehind my ergonomically-adjusted computer monitor, I waited impatiently for her tounbutton her pea coat, peel open her leather trench. I arrived fifteen minutes before ourworking day officially started, at nine o’clock. She floated into the office between… Read More

Kansas, 1965 Whenever they would wheel out Miss Stain Away at the Easter parade I would think to myself, Icould do that. Half them white women ain’t even that pretty, they just look the part. Blonde hair,blue eyes, long stick legs. Their bodies ain’t got no real shape, they ain’t… Read More