A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna wins the Fiction With a Sense of Place award at the 2026 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2026.
Aziz Amna’s talent was praised by the judges for “masterfully capturing a family caught in a changing country, contrasting rural and urban life”. The panel was gripped by this "story of anger, greed, and ambition," which culminates in a "gut-wrenching plot twist."
Desperate to escape her quiet life in rural Pakistan, Tara marries an accountant and moves to the capital. However, she soon finds that being a respectable housewife isn't enough; she craves the status and wealth of the elite. A Splintering traces her struggle between province and metropolis, motherhood and ambition, as she risks everything to carve out a life of her own.