The shortlist has been announced for the eighth 4thWrite prize, which is open to unpublished writers of colour in the UK and Ireland, with globe-trotting short stories ranging from Tokyo to Liverpool, India to the Middle East, and exploring family and heritage, identity and inequality, therapy, fortune tellers and robot wives.

The prize, run by publisher 4th Estate in association with the Guardian, this year spotlights six stories from more than 140 entries. Chair of judges Kishani Widyaratna, publishing director at 4th Estate, said: “Each year the entries offer a fascinating insight into what is being written today and this shortlist is no exception. The stories are varied but have in common an interest in exploring interiority and the subjective nature of human existence, as well as the desire to bridge the gap and connect with another.”

Anvi Prabhu’s In This World We Burn in Different Ways travels between India and the US as a woman remembers her grandfather and the family’s faraway “Mountain Home”; it is a strikingly unusual treatment of heritage, loss and the search for belonging. The Timing of Things by Marcella Marx considers changing family dynamics from different perspectives, through an ambitiously multi-voiced story of mothers and daughters, missing fathers, young love and the inexorable passing of time.

Fleeting Marrow by Yan F Zhang also tackles the passing of time, following one woman’s life all the way from birth to death, through tragedy and triumph, loss and reconciliation. Centred around the real-life deportation of Chinese sailors from Liverpool at the end of the second world war, “it takes the raw source material of this historical tragedy and transforms it into something truly moving,” said judge Zing Tsjeng, a journalist and author.

Widyaratna called Ascend by Priyanka Verma “a sharp, deft and surprising story of the uncomfortable intimacies and class inequities of domestic workers”. It focuses on a woman who answers an advert for “an obedient south Indian maid” for a rich north Indian family living in the Middle East. The Sound of Water by Vee Matsumari, addressed to the narrator’s young daughter, is set during a day at the beach as they swim together. Literary agent Emma Leong, also on the judging panel, called it “an elegantly told narrative, a pocket of modern life, examining the beauty of renewal in gender transitioning through uses of water. It is an emotive exploration of the power of persistence, flow, fluidity, and life itself.” Joy by Isabella Peralta has a killer first line – “Hiroshi built his wife in June” – and goes on to explore love, loneliness and freedom through the story of a man who orders his life partner through the post. It combines black comedy with a delicate depth of feeling.

Completing the judging panel were Women’s prize shortlisted novelist Laline Paull; Sheena Patel, author of I’m a Fan; and myself, the Guardian’s fiction editor. Paull, author of The Bees, said: “Being a writer of colour in no way limits the range of our minds or the form of our expression – but the process of publication is not simple, so three cheers for the 4thWrite/Guardian prize, which unlocks one of the doors.”

Previous alumni of the prize include Guy Gunaratne, longlisted for the Booker for In Our Mad and Furious City; Gurnaik Johal, author of We Move; and Bolu Babalola, whose most recent novel is Honey & Spice.

The winner will be announced on 4 December, and will receive £1,000, a one-day publishing workshop at 4th Estate and publication of their story on the Guardian website.