வணக்கம் ☁️
hello, you are on avrina prabala-joslin’s page
நீங்கள் அவ்ரீனா பிரபலா-ஜாஸ்லின் பக்கத்தில் இருக்கிறீர்கள்

our parents (Prabala & Joslin) named us avrina when we were born (1992, Tamil Nadu)
as we grew, we named and renamed ourselves, for we were born::reborn,
visited::abandoned, came to see::listen::feel::breathe more of ourselves
we are (avrina) & the invisible ones:: many writers, spirits & voices sharing one body
sometimes we know who the invisible ones are, sometimes we don’t
our writing is our mythography

we have an அக்கா Alphina and a சின்ன மகள் Adriana

(அவ்ரீனா) மற்றும் பங்காளிகளும் ☁️
ஒரே உடலைப் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளும் பல எழுத்தாளர்கள், ஆவிகள், குரல்கள்
சில சமயம் தமிழில் எழுதும் போது செல்ல தம்பி எழுதுவார்


avrina writes
☁️ fiction (working on the 5th draft of a novel, 1st draft of another one & a short story collection)
☁️ poetry (bardic verses, to be spoken to an audience / a neo-epic in the making)
☁️ non-fiction (an anti-dissertation on “militant memory poetics”)
☁️ in english, தமிழ் and sometimes auf deutsch

we believe in the fluidity of all things, think about place space time terrain, about childhood, desires and the sea, our futures our unknown ancestries, we have always loved and will always love our families, given lost and found, we’ve gone and come, to some obscure parts of the world, have felt home in some

we were born in விழுப்புரம் (Viluppuram), an incomplete town in தமிழ்நாடு (Tamil Nadu), and live now in பெர்லின் (Berlin), plotting, writing and living a little

we grapple with::in language, the more we write, languages are everything and nothing
we tremble in bed at night with desire for the unknown, we have nothing else





A brief list of wins, short/longlists:

…..my short story Maari was selected Honorary Mention for the Berlin Writing Prize 2022. You can read it here.

…..my short story She’s a Tank, a Battalion, a Banyan won the Short Fiction/University of Essex International Short Story Prize 2021. You can read it here

….review of my performance a writer goes fishing for lost voice at AmnAsia 2.0 (by APAL) along with the review of the event can be read here in german

“Sich als Autorin nicht nur mittels Text und Sprache an die Welt zu wenden, sondern auch filmisch die eigenen Gedanken zu teilen, war für Avrina Prabala-Joslin zunächst eine ungewohnte Herausforderung, wie sie im Nachgespräch ausführte. Doch ihre Arbeit „A writer goes fishing for lost voice”, die sie tatsächlich nach vielen Jahren die eigene Stimme in ihrer Muttersprache hat finden lassen, entwickelt als performative Spoken Word Poetry eine berührende Lebendigkeit. Zwischen Intimität und Argwohn gegenüber der Sprache ihrer Kolonialisten, entfaltet sich eine persönliche Suche nach den Worten der eigenen Geschichte.” Jenny Mahla, tanzschreiber

…..my short story Selfportrait, 2017, Sagaya Rani, oil-on-linen, 196.2 x 157.5 cm was longlisted for the 2021 Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction. It’s not out anywhere yet, but how encouraging is that?


…..my short story Poochi was finalisted for the Indiana Review Fiction Prize 2021. It’s not out anywhere yet, but the announcement is here


…..my poem a gaslighter sighs on the other end won runner-up in the Radical Art Review Creative Writing Competition in April 2021. read it here

“a gaslighter sighs on the other end by Avrina Prabala-Joslin shows a charged stream of consciousness tailored with a creative use of language to tell a story of deception and quiet rage” Matthew Magill, RAR Poetry Editor



…..my short story The Plumage was shortlisted for the Berlin Writing Prize 2019. read an excerpt here