News

2026 Novella Prize Winner:
Edmond Pang

Edmond Pang Congratulations to Edmond Pang, whose “The Suitcase at Yokohama Station” has won the 2026 Novella Prize!

Edmond Pang’s novella was chosen from 216 submissions. He's been awarded $2,000 in prize money, and his novella will be published in the summer 2026 issue #235.

Here's what the judges had to say:
Rob Benvie: “The Suitcase at Yokohama Station” is a deeply satisfying read that leverages the possibilities of the novella form to fullest effect. Its artful, judiciously economical prose drives a propulsive narrative in which the stakes feel high even in subtle moments—a sense of history unfurling through characters who, although encountered only glancingly, draw us into their conflicts and desires, keeping us transfixed to the end. It’s a work of great confidence and grace, and it was a pleasure to be briefly immersed in its world.
Liz Harmer: “The Suitcase at Yokohama Station” has the reader watching a single object move from place to place, characters with their worried eyes on it as the novella reveals one richly built perspective after another. In small moments rendered in elegant prose, the author offers stakes and struggles that range from the large historical to the domestic and personal. I was gripped, I was moved: I loved it.

Born in Hong Kong, Edmond Pang began writing in English, his second language, at fifty-one. His work has appeared in Kweli Journal, BULL, and Flash Frontier. “The Suitcase at Yokohama Station” is his first published novella. He lives and works between New York, Tokyo, and Vancouver with his wife.

Look for an interview with Edmond in our July newsletter.

We would also like to congratulate the 2026 Novella Prize shortlisters:
Mark Blagrave, “Crossings”
Kerry Eady, “The Years We Were Watched”
Taylor Houghton, “This State of Being”
Matt Jones, “Sea Monsters”
Suha Mardelli, “Venus in Beirut”
John Elizabeth Stintzi, “Tantalus”
Katie Zdybel, “Former Glory”

Thank you to judges Rob Benvie and Liz Harmer, to our volunteers, and to all who entered the contest!

The Malahat Review’s Novella Prize runs every other year, alternating with the Long Poem Prize. The deadline for the next Novella Prize will be February 1, 2028.