Ayshe Dengtash

Ayshe Dengtash was born in the United Kingdom to Cypriot parents and holds an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Birmingham. Her debut novel, ‘The Grieving Mothers of the Departed Children’, was published in 2020 by Alden, Allegory Ridge. Her short work has appeared in Faultline, Hare’s Paw, Sunspot Literary Journal, Newfound, La Piccioletta Barca, Gabby&Min publications, and more. Her second novel, ‘Away’ has been longlisted for the 2024 C&R Press Fiction Prize, the 2024 Unleash Press Book Prize, the 2024 Steel Toe Prose Prize, was a semi-finalist for the University of New Orleans Publishing Lab Prize, and made it to Fjord Review’s final round of consideration for publication. Her short story collection ‘Sun’ also made it to the Fjord Review’s final round of consideration for publication. She currently resides in Cyprus.

The Supermarket

The vast interior of the store hummed around her as she stood where she always stood between the stacked baskets and the queue of people. The soles of her feet pulsed, concentrated at the heels, and it was only when her tummy gurgled, an elongated growl which petered out into a squeak, that she could take her mind off her soreness for a second and focus instead on the incessant murmurs of customers, some discussing whether to buy one brand of biscuit over another, others talking on the phone about things they did not really care about, employees greeting customers and waving them bye-bye, with a backdrop of the supermarket jingles she’d been listening to for the two and a half months.
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