Writers shortlisted for the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize read their shortlisted stories

Collected here are the six best stories chosen by the judging panel of the Guardian 4th Estate BAME short story prize 2017.

In them you’ll encounter a range of characters: an Indian soldier fighting for the British in WWII; a teenage girl fasting in a small London flat; an out-of-work dad in an urban playground; a woman cleaning the toilets in Hong Kong International airport; a wealthy Malaysian teenager in his last few days of school; and a septuagenarian arrested on New Year’s Eve.

Read here by the writers themselves, these stories will move, entertain and surprise you – and give a tantalising taste of the future work we might expect from these talented writers.