大象传媒

Novelist and short story writer, Ross Raisin has won the nineteenth 大象传媒 National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (NSSA) for ‘Ghost Kitchen’, a tense, cinematic story narrated by a bicycle courier and inspired by the gig economy and the ‘dark kitchens’ of the restaurant industry.

Credit: Stephen Garnett

Praised for its ‘pitch-perfect handling of memory and backstory’ and it’s ‘clear-eyed attentiveness to the detail of lives not seen before in fiction’, ‘Ghost Kitchen’ is the story of Sean, a young man who has sought invisibility and refuge in the industrial wilderness of an unnamed city by working as a bicycle courier for an out-of-town take-away business after a tragic family incident. A precisely realised world where workers have little agency, Sean’s story of vulnerability and redemption plays out against the relentless grind of the gig economy and the harsh realities of a world where humanity has no value and where both the brutality, and unexpected tenderness, of men is revealed.

Talking about his story, Raisin says:

“During the research and writing of my last novel, I became interested in the growth of dark kitchens (also known as ghost kitchens), so-called in part because they have no windows, no way for anybody on the outside to see in; places too that are often on the outskirts of urban areas; concealed islands that sometimes create the conditions for darkness to flourish. Thinking about all of this, and concurrently thinking about food-delivery models (by way of some fascinating conversations with bicycle couriers) led naturally to a deeper level of critical and creative thinking about the gig economy. One of the things that has felt different about this short story for me, compared to most I have written in the past, is that it has the feeling of a small and specific slicing into a universal story that unites an enormous – yet largely ignored – sector of society.”

‘Ghost Kitchen’ is available to listen to on 大象传媒 Sounds, read by Ashley Margolis.