Keya Mitra is a novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Her work has earned 9 major recognitions since 2024.
“Sharp… exquisite… beautiful… brilliantly moving…
when I finished, I immediately returned to the beginning to read it again. I came away wanting to stay with this writer, in this world…”
— Safiya Sinclair, award-winning author of How to Say Babylon: A Memoir, in praise of “Bruised and Glorious,” winner of the 2024 Prairie Schooner Summer Essay Contest.
WINNER: 2024 Summer Nonfiction Contest
WINNER: 2024 Perkoff Prize in Creative Nonfiction
FINALIST: 2024 Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction
FINALIST: 2024-25 Short Fiction Award
FINALIST: 2024 Short Fiction Contest
FINALIST: 2024 Raz-Shumaker Book Prize in Fiction
FINALIST: 2024 Fall Story Contest
FINALIST: 2024 Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction
FINALIST: 2025 Susan Atefat Prize for Creative Nonfiction
Current projects
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Immigrant Delay Disease
A novel
A literary thriller set in the rainforests of Meghalaya, India
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based on the short story that won the Bellingham Review 2021 Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction.
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Almost Born
A memoir in chapters
A “brilliantly moving” exploration of fertility struggles, chronic illness, and the physical and emotional challenges of hiking multiple Camino Santiago pilgrimages
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featuring sections that won the Prairie Schooner 2024 summer nonfiction contest and The Missouri Review 2024 Perkoff Prize in Creative Nonfiction and were recognized by Narrative Magazine, New Letters, and Prairie Schooner (again).
“Sad and sweet, powerful and disturbing, light as a feather in its deftness, and deeply moving in its human wisdom. What a wonderful discovery.”
— David Lynn, Former Editor-in-Chief of The Kenyon Review