Wish You Were Here
This anthology celebrates 19 stories shortlisted from the Dutt Memorial Award for Literary Excellence 2025. With the theme reflecting the collection's title, these pieces examine the meaning of loss and longing through memory and experience, while providing insights into the Malaysian multicultural landscape from the social, political, and historical perspectives.
A houseman bargains with death on a brutal hospital shift.
A family holds a birthday party (but where on earth is the guest of honour?).
A refugee chases education across borders that refuse him.
Wish You Were Here is the fourth anthology from the Dutt Award for Literary Excellence. This collection gathers 19 stories by familiar and upcoming Malaysian writers, including the winner, Shumin Tan, and runners-up Joshua Lim, Sumitra Selvaraj, and Puvana Gnanasagaran.
With stories that explore loss of loved ones, places, or people we once were, the anthology takes its title from one of the most deceptively simple phrases in the English language. Four words scrawled on postcards. Sent from destinations around the world by people who could not stop thinking of someone they had left behind: wish you were here. We hope that Malaysian readers will find their own life experiences mirrored in these stories. As the editors write in their introduction:
“Absence is not a single thing. It can be the gap left by a person who has died, but also the gap left by a version of yourself that you can no longer inhabit, or the dissonance of a society that feels more artificially intelligent than humanly connected.”
Introduction
Biscuits for Atha
Sumitra Selvaraj
Strawberry Scrubs
Joshua Lim
Always and Always
Tina Ishak-Dagoe
The End of Suffering is a Blessing
Daphne Lee
A Ghosting
Anna Tan
If My Tongue was the Shape of Ginger
Shumin Tan
In the Back Seat
Nik Fahmee
Miss Subbiah of Transfer Road, Penang
Theresa Suthen
The Hike
Jenny Hor
Happy Birthday, Henry
Chloe Hor
The Story in the Margins
Raja Ummi Nadrah
Boddá, Eedé Fulic Asené?
Pacifist Farooq
The Walls We Leave Behind
Meena Lakshana
Eight Minutes Underground
Amir Muhammad
The Seventh Star
Sharmilla Ganesan
Eat Rice
Lee Say Lor
Perfect for a Hot Day
Damina Khaira
Dawn on the Field
Ivy Ngeow
The Unmeasured Ingredients
Puvana Gnanasagaran
Contributors’ Notes
About the Editors
Dipika Mukherjee is the author of eight books, most recently the collection of travel essays, Writers’ Postcards. She wrote the novels, Shambala Junction and Ode to Broken Things, and the story collection, Rules of Desire. Her work is translated into nine languages, and she received an Esteemed Artist Award from the City of Chicago. She has been mentoring Southeast Asian writing for over two decades; in 2015, she founded the Dutt Award for Literary Excellence and has edited five anthologies of Malaysian stories. She holds a PhD in English, teaches at the Graham School at University of Chicago, serves as the Literary Life Ambassador for the Chicago Poetry Center, and is on the board of Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
Sharon Bakar’s articles, reviews, fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous Malaysian publications. She has judged several writing competitions, including the University of Nottingham Short Story Prize and the Dutt Award for Literary Excellence. She organises Readings, a monthly event for local writers in Bangsar, KL, and has edited three anthologies featuring contributions from contributors to the series. With Dipika Mukherjee, she has edited and published three collections of stories that grew out of the Dutt Award. She has taught creative writing courses for various clients, including The British Council, Oxford University Press and MANZA (Australia-New Zealand-Malaysia Association); also at Monash and Nottingham universities in Malaysia. She runs courses and workshops for small groups online and mentors individual writers.
Basic Information
- 978-629-7646-64-0 (Paperback)
