Selma Carvalho
Founder EDITOR
Selma Carvalho is a British-Asian writer and editor. Her novellas have been shortlisted by Mslexia Novella Prize, Weatherglass Novella Prize, and the Cinnamon Press Mentorship Programme, UK. Her debut novella 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. Her second published novella is Notes on a Marriage (Speaking Tiger, 2024). Her unpublished novel All the Things we Cry for was longlisted for the Plaza Prizes and is represented by A Suitable Agency.
Thirty-five of her short stories and poems have been published by Kingston University Press, Aleph Books India, Pathian Books Wales, Mechanics Institute Review Birkbeck, Lighthouse Journal, Litro, Fly on the Wall and Comma Press, among others. 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. A collection of her short stories was a finalist for the SI Leeds Literary Prize and is forthcoming from Speaking Tiger in 2027. Her short-fiction has been translated into the Portuguese for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies, 2018.
Her three non-fiction works Into the Diaspora Wilderness (Goa 1556, 2010), A Railway Runs Through: Goans of British East Africa (HLF project, 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 is Guts, Glory & Empire: The Epic Story of Goans in Zanzibar, 1865-1810 (Speaking Tiger, 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) published by Cinnamon Teal. She was a long-time columnist for the newspapers oHeraldo and The Goan, and has been published in The Hindustan, the Deccan Herald, Readers Digest and The Indian Quarterly. Her work has been reviewed in The Hindu, The Telegraph and The Hindustan.
She lives in London. She is represented by Naomi Barton at A Suitable Agency.
Short story and poetry publications
1. Short Story, Remembering the Song by Muse India, 2015
2. Short Story, Sharmini Subramini: Name Unknown by Litro (ed. Shashi Tharoor), 2016
3. Short Story, Letters from Nairobi by Jaggery, 2016
4. Short Story, Anatomy of Desire published in Apocalypse Chronicles by Almond Press, 2016
5. Short Story, Mand goes to Church in Out-of-print journal, 2016
6. Poem, How does Forgiveness Work? published in Road to Clevedon Pier by Hedgehog Press, 2017
7. Short Story, Our American Guest by Bombay Review, 2017
8. Short Story, Home in New Asian Writing Journal, 2017
9. Short Story, The Blighted Harvest in DNA newspaper, 2017
10. Short Story, Invisible Until We’re Not by Kartika Review, 2016
11. Poem, Quilt me a Blanket by Words for the Wild Journal, 2018
12. Short Story, The Arrogance of Spring by Lighthouse Journal, 2018
13. Poem, What do Fish Remember by Dempsey & Windle, 2018
14. Short Story, Six Months of Winter by Pensando Goa, 2018 (translated into the Portuguese)
15. Short Story, Some Kind of Weird & Wonderful by Fabula Press, 2018
16. Poem, In Colder Climes by Mechanics Institute Review, Birkbeck, 2018
17. Short Story, Landbound Lullabies by Didcot Writers, 2018
18. Short Story, This Space of Transience in Brighton Prize Anthology, Rattle Tales Press, 2018
19. Short Story, Richard the English, Dorset Fiction Award, published online, 2018
20. Short Story, How Abu Baker met his third wife by Cafe Stories by Comma Press, 2018
21. Short Story, Kitchen Sink Mutinies in London Short Story Anthology by Kingstone University Press, 2018
22. Short Story, How do we Die? in Leicester Writes Anthology by Dahlia Press, 2018
23. Poem, Journey by Hammond Press, 2019
24. Short Story, There where the Trees are by Hillingdon Literary Festival, Brunel University, 2019
25. Short Story, All the Shuttered Things Blooming by Storgy Press, 2019
26. Poem, One Point Perspective in Alternative Truths by Dempsey & Windle, 2019
27. Poem, I am no Lighthouse by Erbacce Press, 2019
28. Story Story, Horton Street in Leicester Writes Anthology by Dahlia Press, 2019
29. Poem, Sudden Mid-life Storms in Heartland by Parthian Books Wales, 2019
30. Poem, A Dying in September by Mechanics Institute Review, Birkbeck, 2020
31. Poem, Splendid Things were Dying by Lighthouse Journal, 2020
32. Short Story, To Everything there is a Season by BLink (The Hindu), 2020
33. Short Story, Penguin: A Flightless Migratory Bird by Nobrow Press, 2020
34. Short Story, Cue the Fish Palace by Fly on the Wall Press, 2021
35. Short Story, Bed Blocker No. 10 in Greatest Goan Stories Ever Told by Aleph Books India, 2022