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Sreelekha Chatterjee wins KSU literature contest
Chatterjee, a New Delhi based writer, was recognized in the nonfiction category for her short story.
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Staff Reporter - Tue, 03, Mar 2026
- 00:29 EST
- 19
Sreelekha Chatterjee / Sreelekha Chatterjee via Instagram
Short-story writer Sreelekha Chatterjee has won the Mukoli Contest, hosted by Kennesaw State University’s Mukoli magazine. She was recognized in the nonfiction category for her short story titled, “A Mind Invalid by Riots.”
Her work narrates the tale of a child in a city going through a communal riot. During the riot, as “religious fanatics” burned the city, a child in her neighborhood, who had a mental breakdown triggered by past trauma from losing his parents in a similar riot, searched naked for “missing stars” amid the chaos and violence.
As the neighborhood united to provide the child with constant care, food and compassion, helping him recover from his disoriented state, the narrator learned that love, affection and human kindness can mend even a shattered mind, offering hope amid senseless religious fanaticism and division.
The Mukoli Contest winners are recognized by Mukoli magazine, published by the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development at Kennesaw State University.
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Nonfiction judge Laura Davis described Chatterjee’s work as a “very important story” and said, “I think the most effective thing is that the narrator brings us his/her perspective through the eyes of a child.”
Davis added, “In this way, it reminded me of Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel Cracking India. The title of this piece itself is really clever and double-edged, just like Sidhwa’s is.”
Mukoli, an Assamese word, means open space, openness or opening up. The magazine is a multimedia space for creative writers and artists whose engagements open up pathways to transforming conflicts, cultivating cultures and structures of peace, while promoting the healing and well-being of the planet and its people.
Chatterjee, a New Delhi, India, resident, is short story writer, poet and editor. Her nonfiction pieces have appeared in SugarSugarSalt Magazine, Usawa Literary Review, Five Minutes, Prosetrics, The Chakkar, Different Truths and in anthologies such as Wisdom of Our Mothers (Familia Books, U.S.), among others. Her short stories and poems have been widely published in more than 200 journals, magazines and anthologies globally across 20 countries and translated into several languages.
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