Yara Zgheib is the author of No Land to Light On, which was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and chosen by The Washington Post, The L.A. Times, Newsweek, and others as one of the top books of 2022. Her first novel, The Girls at 17 Swann Street, was an Indie Next, People, and Barnes and Noble pick for Best Books of 2019. She is the recipient of the 2023 Rose Metal Press Prize for her forthcoming book of prose-poetry and music, Dust and Ions, to be released and performed in 2026. Website: ww.yarazgheib.com | Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yarazgheibofficial/

Judge's comment:

I always think there’s so much power in juxtaposition and here we have overlapping juxtapositions that create so much texture and angularity within the space of just one hundred words. There’s the juxtaposition between where the narrator is and what they are watching unfold in Beirut (the unsettling beauty, almost, in the way that’s brought to life). There’s the juxtaposition between the starkly suggested noise of the explosion and following sirens, and the piano playing happening on the roof. Then there’s the way this story seems to push outwards into something more universal. In describing a specific event, it also to me feels like it describes other conflicts, other explosions, other ravaged cities; and more generally it explores that universal juxtaposition between dark and light, between the things that ravage and the power of art to bring healing and hope.