The Zeenat Haroon Rashid Writing Prize for Women has announced that the award for 2025 goes to writer Sidra Nisar for her compelling short story Chai and the City. Sidra will receive a cash award of Rs100,000.

This year the prize was awarded for short fiction and was chosen by a judging panel that included novelists Uzma Aslam Khan and Omar Shahid Hamid as well as Ailah Ahmed, Publishing Director for Hutchinson Heinemann, the prestigious literary imprint of Penguin Random House.

The judging panel was deeply moved by the emotional depth of the winning story,praising the funny, wistful and tender character sketches of the customers who visit a Karachi chai dhaba [roadside tea restaurant] seen through the eyes of Chacha Wahid, the owner-cum-listener of the establishment. The judges agreed that the writing brims with energy and captures the pulse of the city with remarkable vividness: “It is powerful, immersive, and utterly charming.”

The winning author, Sidra Nisar, isa 27-year-old writer from Karachi whose story was inspired by the city itself. “Many of these reflections came to me while sitting at real chai dhabas, watching people gather over chai. There’s something profoundly human about those moments when students, workers and dreamers find the same comfort in a single, steaming cup. Chai, for me, has become more than just a drink. It is an emotion — a universal language of comfort, celebration and love. Through this story, I wanted to capture how one cup of chai can hold an entire city’s heart.”

In a very competitive year, the judges also “highly commended” five other shortlisted stories for their literary merit:

• Ajrak and Ashes by Zahra Haider: a not-unfamiliar theme of the discovery of another wife after the death of a husband is given fresh impetus as a contemplation of sisterhood blossoming from a shared intimacy.

• Drenched in Qorma and Dread by Sumayya Arshed: an amusing satire about a family meal at Eid that interrogates gender roles with wit in a voice that is both deeply serious and hilarious.

• Ghusl Before Maghrib by Maryam Zahid: as the azaan sounds, a woman performs her ablutions, leading to an atmospheric story full of powerful sensuousness and imagery, with a plot that cleverly subverts expectations.

• Motia by Alina Ehtesham: as a second bride joins the household, a child examines the nexus of relationships with concern — the story is an ode to friendship and trust between women across generations, and to the ways that patriarchy and cycles of violence can be resisted.

• The Etymology of Maman by Elia Rathore: a polished piece of writing that examines a mother-daughter relationship as it evolves before, during and after a camping trip to the mountains. 

The winning story will be published in Eos, both online and in print in November and, shortly thereafter, all shortlisted stories will be published on the official prize website www.zhrwritingprize.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, November 16th, 2025