Selma Carvalho
Founder EDITOR
Selma Carvalho is a British-Asian writer and editor. Her debut novel Sisterhood of Swans (Speaking Tiger, 2021) was shortlisted for the Women Writers Prize (India), listed among six notable fiction books of 2021 by Asian Review of Books, and author Jerry Pinto’s top three reads of 2021 on India Today. As a work-in-progress it was shortlisted for the Mslexia Novella Prize. Her second novella Notes on a Marriage was published by Speaking Tiger in 2024. In its early stages, it was shortlisted as a possible candidate for the Cinnamon Press Mentorship Programme, UK. A collection of her short stories was a finalist for the SI Leeds Literary Prize and is forthcoming from Speaking Tiger in 2027.
Her three non-fiction works Into the Diaspora Wilderness (2010), A Railway Runs Through: Goans of British East Africa (2014) and Baker Butcher, Doctor Diplomat: Goan Pioneers of East Africa (2016) document the Goan presence in colonial East Africa. Between 2011-2014, she headed the Oral Histories of British-Goans of East Africa, project funded by a HLF UK grant and archived at the British Library and the Bexley Libraries. Her fourth non-fiction book Guts, Glory & Empire: The Epic Story of Goans in Zanzibar, 1860-1810 is forthcoming by Speaking Tiger in 2026.
She is the editor of three vols of The Brave New World of Goan Writing & Art (2018) (2020) & (2025) and The Naked Liberal: The Writings of George Menezes (2012). Her short fiction and poetry have been widely published and anthologised in the UK and India, among them by Aleph India, Kingston University Press UK and Parthian Books Wales. She has been listed or placed in 40 odd literary contests notably Fish, Bath, London Short Story, New Asian Writing, and winner of the Leicester Writes Prize. Her unpublished novel All the Things we Cry for was longlisted for the Plaza Prizes and is represented by A Suitable Agency. Her unpublished novella A Brief History of War was shortlisted for the Weatherglass novella. Her work has been translated into the Portuguese for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies, 2018. She was a long-time columnist for the newspapers Heraldo and The Goan, and has been published in The Hindustan, the Deccan Herald, Readers Digest and The Indian Quarterly, among others.
She lives in London. She is represented by Naomi Barton at A Suitable Agency.
Short story and poetry publications
1. Remembering the Song by Muse India, 2015
2. Sharmini Subramini: Name Unknown by Litro (ed. Shashi Tharoor), 2016
3. Letters from Nairobi by Jaggery, 2016
4. Anatomy of Desire published in Apocalypse Chronicles by Almond Press, 2016
5. Mand goes to Church in DNA newspaper, 2016
6. How does Forgiveness Work? published in Road to Clevedon Pier by Hedgehog Press, 2017
7. Our American Guest by Bombay Review, 2017
8. Home in New Asian Writing Journal, 2017
9. The Blighted Harvest in DNA newspaper, 2017
10. Invisible Until We’re Not by Kartika Review, 2018
11. Quilt me a Blanket by Words for the Wild Journal, 2018
12. The Arrogance of Spring by Lighthouse Journal, 2018
13. What do Fish Remember by Dempsey & Windle, 2018
14. Six Months of Winter by Pensando Goa, 2018 (translated into the Portuguese)
15. Some Kind of Weird & Wonderful by Fabula Press, 2018
16. In Colder Climes by Mechanics Institute Review, Birkbeck, 2018
17. Landbound Lullabies by Didcot Writers, 2018
18. This Space of Transience in Brighton Prize Anthology, Rattle Tales Press, 2018
19. Richard the English, Dorset Fiction Award, published online, 2018
20. How Abu Baker met his third wife by Cafe Stories by Comma Press, 2018
21. Kitchen Sink Mutinies in London Short Story Anthology by Kingstone University Press, 2018
22. How do we Die? in Leicester Writes Anthology by Dahlia Press, 2018
23. Journey by Hammond Press, 2019
24. There where the Trees are by Hillingdon Literary Festival, Brunel University, 2019
25. All the Shuttered Things Blooming by Storgy Press, 2019
26. One Point Perspective in Alternative Truths by Dempsey & Windle, 2019
27. I am no Lighthouse by Erbacce Press, 2019
28. Horton Street in Leicester Writes Anthology by Dahlia Press, 2019
29. Sudden Mid-life Storms in Heartland by Parthian Books Wales, 2019
30. A Dying in September by Mechanics Institute Review, Birkbeck, 2020
31. Splendid Things were Dying by Lighthouse Journal, 2020
32. To Everything there is a Season by BLink (The Hindu), 2020
33. Penguin: A Flightless Migratory Bird by Nobrow Press, 2020
34. Cue the Fish Palace by Fly on the Wall Press, 2021
35. Bed Blocker No. 10 in Greatest Goan Stories Ever Told by Aleph Books India, 2022