A Major New International Literary Award

photo by Vicbuster

The Charleston & Chichester Award
for a Lifetime’s Excellence in Short Fiction

The Charleston & Chichester Award is the first to recognise long-standing creativity and achievement in the writing of short stories.

The Award has been established by The Charleston Trust, in conjunction with the University of Chichester. A public award event will coincide with celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the International Small Wonder Short Story Festival. This unique Award also marks the University of Chichester’s ongoing commitment to the study and creation of powerful new short stories.

A limited number of free tickets are available
for the public Award Event
on Sunday, 29th September, at 11:00am.
If you would like to attend, please email: festivals@charleston.org.uk

Alison MacLeod, novelist and story writer, and Professor of Contemporary Fiction at Chichester, comments: We are absolutely delighted to be be launching this new award with the Charleston Trust. The art of the short story – intensive, demanding and exquisite – is something to celebrate, especially when an outstanding body of work spans not just a single brilliant collection – a triumph in itself – but a writing life-time. I know of no better an occasion for the inaugural award ceremony than the renowned International Small Wonder Short Story Festival. An understanding of the beauty and power of the short story form is something the Festival and the Dept. of English & Creative Writing happily share. The new Charleston & Chichester Award was born out of that shared understanding and a passion for stories.

The winner of the inaugural award has been carefully selected by a panel of experts and will be announced at a special public event at this year’s Festival, on Sunday 29 September at 11 a.m. The event will also celebrate the work of the award recipient.

The Small Wonder Festival, held annually at Charleston in East Sussex, the country meeting place for the Bloomsbury Group, celebrates the short story form over five days of literary events. The University of Chichester, with its acclaimed B.A., M.A. and Ph.D programmes in literature and writing, is both a Small Wonder Festival sponsor and the host of THRESHOLDS.

Diana Reich, Artistic Director of The Small Wonder Festival and the Award Administrator, says: This is a landmark year for Small Wonder. Over the past decade, the Festival has become a centre of excellence for the short story and is synonymous with the revival of interest in the genre. There is no better way to celebrate this milestone than by launching a new literary award, together with the University of Chichester, honouring an outstanding record in the publication of remarkable short stories.

Dr Sarah Gilroy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Chichester, comments: The University is the academic home to a community of nationally and internationally recognised short story writers, novelists, poets, dramatists and scholars. With a proud record in the publication of short stories we are delighted to build upon our long-standing partnership with the Charleston Trust and the Small Wonder Festival by creating this literary award celebrating the vibrant discipline of short story writing.

~

To attend the event on Sunday 29th September, please visit the Small Wonder website to book your tickets.