The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce that Shahriar Shaams is the winner of the 2026 A.C. Bose Grant.

In 2019, the Speculative Literature Foundation and DesiLit co-sponsored the A.C. Bose Grant in memory of Ashim Chandra Bose, a lover of books—especially science fiction and fantasy. Bose’s children, Rupa Bose and Gautam Bose, founded the grant to honor the legacy of the worlds their father opened up for them. The donors hope that this grant will help develop work that will let young people imagine different worlds and possibilities. 

Shaams’ winning piece is A Night With the Spy.

Shahriar Shaams is a writer and translator from Dhaka, Bangladesh. His works have appeared in Singapore Unbound, Small World City and in the anthology Bridges Not Borders. He is a 2024 fellow of Write Beyond Borders and was nonfiction editor of the martial-arts themed literary magazine Clinch. He enjoys writing about boxing, jinns, and overinvolved mothers. He can be reached on instagram @shahriar.shaams