28 November 2013
The Bridport Prize Winners
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Bridport Prize. In the short story category, judge Michèle Roberts named Eve Thomson’s story ‘A Man in Three Moments’ as overall winner. In second place was ‘TXL’ by Kerry Hood, and in third was ‘Oyster Woman’ by Sheila Crawford. In the flash fiction category, judge David Swann named ‘Polio’ by Nicholas Ruddock as overall winner, with ‘Fine’ by Michelle Wright in second place, and ‘Locked In’ by Sarah Baxter in third.
Eve Thomson‘s work has previously been shortlisted for the Orange/Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition and the Bridport Prize, and her work has appeared in the Bridport Prize 2008 anthology, the Scottish Book Trust’s New Writing from Scotland 2009, and Mslexia issue 58, in 2013. Her first novel is in its final draft stage.
Nicholas Ruddock has won prizes in both poetry and fiction from literary journals in Canada. His short story ‘How Eunice Got Her Baby’ was filmed by the Canadian Film Centre. His ‘wildly inventive’ novel about poetry and love, The Parabolist, was published in February 2010 by Doubleday Canada and was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award. He lives and works as a family doctor in Guelph.
Short Story Highly Commended:
‘Disappearance’ by Dima Alzayat
‘mice story, not his’ by Benjamin Dipple
‘So Much Lemonade’ by Barry Lee Thompson
‘Yesterday’s Pies’ by Marinella Mezzanotte
‘Peru’ by Manus McManus
‘Praise’ by Jennifer Mills
‘Jotunheim’ by John Murphy
‘Rambutan!’ by Mai Nardone
‘Contrails’ by Noel O’Regan
‘Star Sailor (Aistron Nautes)’ by Rebecca Swirsky
19 October 2013
Paul McMichael wins the 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize
Congratulations to Paul McMichael, winner of this year’s Bristol Short Story Prize. He captivated the judges with his short story ‘The House in St John’s Avenue’, and was awarded the £1,000 first prize. McMichael said of his win: “I’m overwhelmed…that a set of such discerning judges picked this story out. Thoroughly delighted and grateful”.
Now in its sixth year, the Bristol Short Story Prize received a record 2,510 entries, with stories submitted from more than 60 countries, including the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, India, Canada, USA, Bangladesh and Kenya submitting stories. You can find out more about the Bristol Short Story Prize here.
10 October 2013
Short Story Writer Alice Munro Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
We were absolutely delighted to learn that short story author Alice Munro has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. On making the announcement, Peter Englund, of the Swedish Academy, called Munro a ‘master of the contemporary short story’. Munro’s first collection of stories, Dance of the Happy Shades, was published in 1968 and won Canada’s highest literary prize, the Governor General’s Award. Since then she has published ten further collections, and has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Man Booker International Prize for her entire body of work, in 2009. Her work frequently appears in magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review. Previous winners of the Nobel Prize for literature include Rudyard Kipling, Toni Morrison and Ernest Hemingway.
08 October 2013
Sarah Hall wins the BBC National Short Story Award
Congratulations to Sarah Hall, winner of this year’s prestigious BBC National Short Story Award for her enchanting story ‘Mrs Fox’. In this darkly erotic transformation tale, a woman turns into a fox to her husband’s confusion and dismay. Sarah Hall’s first novel, Haweswater, won the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel, a Society of Authors Betty Trask Award and a Lakeland Book of the Year prize. Her following novels have been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and have won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Portico Prize for Fiction, amongst others. Her first collection of short stories, The Beautiful Indifference, won the Portico Prize and the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, it was also short-listed for the Frank O’Connor Prize.
Listen to Sarah Hall’s Short Story Mastercalss exclusively on THRESHOLDS, here.
29 September 2013
Announcing William Trevor as the recipient of the inaugural Charleston-Chichester Award for a Lifetime’s Excellence in Short Fiction
The first award that recognises long-standing creativity and achievement in writing short stories. William Trevor was born in Mitchelstown, County Cork in 1928. He has published fourteen novels, including The Old Boys, The Children of Dynmouth, Felicia’s Journey, The Story of Lucy Gault and Love and Summer, as well as twelve collections of short stories and 2 novellas. He has won many illustrious prizes and received an Honorary Knighthood in 2002. He has lived in the West of England for many years. William Trevor says: “This is an award for what I do best, which is to write short stories. I also write novels but short stories are what I love and have always loved. I’m hugely honoured. It does mean a great deal to me. It has come from the right source. If I were to associate myself forever with the short story, this is the way I would like to do it.” Diana Reich Award Administrator says: “William Trevor is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary practitioners of the art of the short story in the English Language, a master exponent of the tragedy of manners. He has been a lodestar for generations of short story writers, both national and international, who have followed him. He was the unanimous choice as the first recipient of the new Award.” Alison MacLeod, Professor of Contemporary Fiction, University of Chichester says: “It is a huge honour to be able to celebrate nearly fifty years of short fiction from a writer who describes himself as ‘a short-story writer who happens to write novels’. William Trevor is, without doubt, one of our most extraordinary writers. His vision of the lives of others is as sharp as it is compassionate; as sensitive as it is wry. How lucky we are.” For full details on the award, visit the Charleston Trust Small Wonder Festival website.
22 May 2013
Short story writer Lydia Davis wins the Man Booker International Prize
A hearty congratulations to acclaimed short story writer Lydia Davis, winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize. Presented at an award ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the prize seeks out literary excellence from a writer’s body of work, rather than a single novel (as with the Man Booker Prize for Fiction). Davis beat a shortlist of nine other authors. She is best known for translating Marcel Proust’s Du Côté de Chez Swann and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, and for writing short stories – some of which are among the shortest stories ever written.
07 May 2013
Shortlist for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize announced
This year’s Edge Hill Short Story Prize shortlist has been announced and we would like to extend our warm congratulations to all the authors listed. This is the only annual UK award that recognises excellence in a published collection of short stories, and this year it is judged by the 2012 winner Sarah Hall, Scottish author and literary critic Lesley McDowell, and Jim Lee, Regional Buyer at Waterstones. The final shortlist of authors and short story collections competing for the £5,000 award: Kevin Barry – Dark Lies The Island (Jonathan Cape) Emma Donoghue – Astray (Pan Macmillan) Adam Marek – The Stone Thrower (Comma Press) Jon McGregor – This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You (Bloomsbury) Jane Rogers – Hitting Trees With Sticks (Comma Press) Lucy Wood – Diving Belles (Bloomsbury) The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on 4th July at Waterstones Piccadilly, London. In the meantime, you can find more information on all of the shortlisted authors on the Edge Hill website.
04 May 2013
2013 Scott Prize winner announced
Kirsty Logan has been named as the winner of this year’s Scott Prize for Short Stories, for her collection The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales. The annual Scott Prize, delivered by Salt Publishing, is the only international prize for debut full length collections of short stories written in English. Logan is a fiction writer, literary editor, columnist and book reviewer. Her short fiction and poetry has been published in around 80 anthologies and magazines, recorded for podcasts, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and exhibited in galleries. Warm congratulations to Kirsty Logan and to this year’s shortlisted authors: Alistair Daniel (UK) – Marriage à la Mode April L. Ford (USA) – The Poor Children Jane Hammons (USA) – A Place Called Beautiful Jenny Holden (UK) – Flexitime Hilary Hughes (UK) – Word Salad Dan Powell (UK) – Looking Out of Broken Windows Leone Ross (UK) – Lipstick, Lighters, Pens & Porn Colette Sartor (USA) – Kinship, Friendship, and Other Afflictions Peter Vilbig (USA) – Signal Boom Signal Crash Jill Widner (USA) – A Green Raft on a Muddy Swell You can find full details about the prize, winner and shortlisted writers on the Salt Publishing blog. (Author photo © Monkeytwizzle)
26 April 2013
The results are in for the 2013 THRESHOLDS International Short Story Feature Writing Competition
The results are in and we are delighted to announce that our £500 first prize winner is Nuala Ní Chonchúir, with her feature essay ‘A Trio of Irish Short Stories’. Dan Powell placed as runner-up with a feature on Stig Dagerman’s The Games of Night. The team of five judges felt the strength of the submissions this year was remarkable: ‘it has been an absolute pleasure to read through the entries – to see the time and effort that has gone into each one, specifically for this competition. We’re very grateful to each entrant, and we’re honoured to see the quality of material that the Competition has inspired.’ 
Nuala Ní Chonchúir was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1970; she lives in East Galway. Her fourth short story collection Mother America was published by New Island in 2012; The Irish Times said of it: ‘Ní Chonchúir’s precisely made but deliciously sensual stories mark her as a carrier of Edna O’Brien’s flame.’ Her début novel You (New Island, 2010) was called ‘a gem’ by The Irish Examiner and ‘a heart-warmer’ by The Irish Times. Her third full poetry collection The Juno Charm was published by Salmon Poetry in 2011. Nuala’s second novel will be published in 2014. 
Dan Powell was dragged up in the West Midlands and currently fills his nights teaching part-time while studying for an MA in Creative Writing. His short fictions have popped up in many, many places, most recently in the pages of Carve, Paraxis, and Structo. He was recently awarded a Carve Esoteric Award for his short story ‘Storm in a Teacup’ and his Yeovil Prize winning story ‘Half-mown Lawn’ is included in The Best British Short Stories 2012 (Salt Publishing). He procrastinates at danpowellfiction.com. Nuala’s winning entry was described by the judges as ‘a rich, deft piece about the way we are each inhabited by stories’. You can read ‘A Trio of Irish Short Stories’ here.
25 April 2013
The White Review Prize winner announced
Congratulations to Claire-Louise Bennett, winner of this year’s White Review Prize. Bennett’s story ‘The Lady of the House’ was named winner of the short story competition for emerging writers this evening at a prize-giving ceremony. The shortlisted stories: ‘Popular Mechanics’ by Gareth Dickson; ‘The Story I’m Thinking of’ by Jonathan Gibbs; ‘The Taxidermist’ by Olivia Heal; ‘Towards White, 1975’ by Scott Morris; ‘The Final Journals of Dr Peter Lurneman’ by Luke Neima; ‘Fairy Tale Ending’ by Stacy Patton; ‘How to be an Astronaut’ by J. D. A. Winslow. You can read the winning story on The White Review website.
23 March 2013
Junot Díaz wins the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for ‘Miss Lora’
Congratulations to American author Junot Díaz, winner of this year’s Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. Díaz was presented with the £30,000 cheque – the largest award for a single short story – by Joanna Trollope at a ceremony at the Oxford Literary Festival last night. Prize judge Andrew O’Hagan said that ‘Miss Lora’, Díaz’s winning story, ‘has the feel of a contemporary classic’ and that it ‘echoes in the heart as well as the mind’. Junot Díaz joins a winners’ circle of Kevin Barry, who won the Award last year with ‘Beer Trip to Llandudno’, American Anthony Doerr, who won in 2011 for his ‘The Deep’, and New Zealander C K Stead, who won the inaugural Award in 2010 with ‘Last Season’s Man’. For full details of the Award winner and shortlisted authors, visit the BookTrust website. You can read about Díaz’s writing in a recent THRESHOLDS post, where Ruba Abughaida takes a look at his linked collection This is How You Lose Her.
02 March 2013
Author Pawel Huelle’s Cold Sea Stories longlisted for the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
Polish author Pawel Huelle’s short story collection Cold Sea Stories, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, has been long-listed for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Honouring the best work of fiction by a living author, which has been translated into English and published in the UK, the prize gives equal recognition to both the author and translator. Published by Comma Press, Cold Sea Stories is ‘a breathtaking voyage into Poland’s political and historical landscape, from post-Nazi invasion to the Solidarity movement.’ For full details, please visit Pawel Huelle’s page at Comma Press.
01 March 2013
Inaugural International Salt Prize winners announced
In 2012, Salt Publishing launched three new creative writing contests, known collectively as The Salt Prizes, for best single short story, best flash fiction and best single poem. After receiving ‘a truly extraordinary response’, the judges have named Jay Merill’s story ‘As Birds Fly’ winner of the £1,000 award for Best Individual Short Story. Pearse Murray’s ‘Off Kaizersgracht’ came in second place, and Jonathan Pinnock’s story ‘Duo for Oboe and Violin’ in third. The Best Individual Flash Fiction prize went to Armando Celayo for ‘If This Was A Love Story’, with the second prize awarded to Clare Conlon for ‘Clean Me’ and third prize to Tania Hershman’s flash ‘A Song for Falling’. Congratulations to the winners and runners-up in the International Salt Prize 2012. Best Individual Short Story runners-up: Joanna Campbell — ‘Following Candace’ Catherine Mee — ‘French Lessons’ Alban Miles — ‘Fish Eyes’ Matthew Morgan — ‘Absent Stars’ Dan Powell — ‘A Storm in a Teacup’ Cherise Saywell — ‘Hard Shoulder’ Adam Wilshaw — ‘Flowers, Whisky’ Best Individual Flash Fiction runners-up: Kevlin Henney — ‘A Higher Calling’ Annemarie Hoeve — ‘An Acquired Taste’ Danielle McLaughlin — ‘Clock’ Allie Rogers — ‘Cool for Cats’ Jose Varghese — ‘Argumentative Hands’ Judi Walsh — ‘Victor’ Jan Woolf — ‘Fixed’ For full details of the International Salt Prize 2012, please see the Salt Publishing blog.
27 February 2013
Fish Short Story Prize long and short-listed stories announced
Congratulations to the long and shortlisted writers for this year’s Fish Short Story Prize. From 1,600 submissions, the judges narrowed the stories down to 348 on the longlist, from which they selected 89 stories to compile the shortlist. Judge Philip O’Ceallaigh (pictured) will choose the winners whose stories will be published in the Fish Anthology later this year. The winning entries will be announced on 17 March 2013. See the Fish Publishing website for full details of the long and shortlisted authors.
26 February 2013
The shortlist is announced for Salt Publishing’s Scott Prize
The shortlist has been announced for the only international prize for debut full length collections of short stories written in English – the International Scott Prize for Short Stories. The winner, whose collection will be published by Salt Publishing, will be announced in April. Along with congratulating the shorlisted writers, Salt say: ‘We are also delighted to see the short story now thriving in the UK, a country that seemed, just a few years ago, to have abandoned the genre; yet the explosion of new magazines and new methods of reaching readers has led to a dramatic resurgence.’ Congratulations to the eleven shortlisted writers: Alistair Daniel (UK) – Marriage à la Mode April L. Ford (USA) – The Poor Children Jane Hammons (USA) – A Place Called Beautiful Jenny Holden (UK) – Flexitime Hilary Hughes (UK) – Word Salad Kirsty Logan (UK) – The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales Dan Powell (UK) – Looking Out of Broken Windows Leone Ross (UK) – Lipstick, Lighters, Pens & Porn Colette Sartor (USA) – Kinship, Friendship, and Other Afflictions Peter Vilbig (USA) – Signal Boom Signal Crash Jill Widner (USA) – A Green Raft on a Muddy Swell Full details about the Scott Prize can be found on the Salt Publishing website and blog.
24 February 2013
The Sunday Times EFG Award short-list announced
The short-list for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award has just been announced. With a list made up of established and emerging writers, it’s going to be a fascinating award to watch. The winner will be announced at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on March 22, where they will receive the world’s largest prize for a single short story – £30,000. Congratulations to all on the short-list. The stories and authors are: Miss Lora by Junot Diaz The Gun by Mark Haddon Evie by Sarah Hall The Dig by Cynan Jones Call It ‘The Bug’ Because I Have No Time To Think of a Better Title by Toby Litt The Beholder by Ali Smith Full details for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award can be found on the Book Trust website.
February 2013
BBC Radio 4 searches for five short stories by ‘new voices’
BBC Radio 4 has commissioned Sweet Talk to produce five short stories by new voices for their returning series of broadcasts named ‘The Time Being‘. Sweet Talk, the independent radio production company has, in recent times, broadcast work by authors including Nick Walker, Morven Crumlish, Alison MacLeod, Toby Litt, Simon Stephenson, Louise Stern, Andrew Miller, Jesmyn Ward, Olga Grushin, James Hopkin, Esi Edugyan, Shena Mackay, M.J. Hyland, Scarlett Thomas and former The Time Being contributors Heidi Amsinck and Tania Hershman. Writers wishing to submit should be aware of the following: ° This is a week of new voices, so we’re looking for writers who are as yet unbroadcast (and largely unpublished: i.e. having a story in a magazine or anthology here and there is OK, but a track record of novels and story collections in print is not!) ° Please don’t submit stories that have been previously ‘performed’ (e.g. at readings events which have been filmed/recorded and put on YouTube etc.) ° Ideally, stories will not have previously appeared in print or online. ° Broadcast stories will be read by a single voice. ° Stories need to be between 2000 and 2200 words in length. ° Please put full contact details (name, post and email address, phone number) including any alternative contact details for vacations and a word count on the title page of each story. ° No more than two stories per writer, please. ° We are unable to return manuscripts or provide feedback on unsuccessful submissions. The closing date for submissions is 22 March 2013. Please email stories to jeremyosborne@mac.com
January 2013
The London Magazine Short Story Competition
Congratulations to the winners of The London Magazine Short Story Competition, announced at a champagne reception on the House of Commons terrace on Tuesday 22nd January. Judges Edna O’Brien, Cathy Galvin and Alison Macleod named Sophie Hampton as winner of the £500 prize, while second prize went Mary O’Shea and third to Neil Herrington. 
Sophie Hampton was born and brought up in London and is an MA Writing student at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2012 Sophie won the Seán Ó Faoláin Prize, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and had her story The Cairn broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She is currently working on her first collection of short fiction. About her win, Sophie said: “I am thrilled that Les Pieds de Dieu was chosen by such a distinguished panel of judges and delighted that the story is going to be published in this prestigious magazine.” 
Mary O’Shea grew up in Cork. She studied at U.C.C. where she was awarded a Master’s degree in French literature. Stories of hers have appeared in The London Magazine, New Irish Writing and in two Willesden Herald New Short Stories anthologies. She has won a Hennessy Literary Award and prizes in a number of competitions including the William Trevor International Short Story Competition, Segora, Willesden Herald, and The London Magazine. She is currently working on a novel and hoping to get her short fiction collected for publication. She lives with her husband in Cork. 
Neil Herrington grew up in Somerset and studied at the University of Southampton. He has lived in Japan and China and now lives in London. Neil has worked for the British Council and the Open University and currently works for Regent’s College London as their Business Development Manager. He has published two short stories with Ether Books and is working on a novel, entitled Imperialist Running Dogs, which is set in Shanghai at the time of the Iraq War. You can find further details of The London Magazine Short Story Competition on their website.
30 January 2013
Avril Joy wins the Costa Short Story Award
Last night, the winners of the inaugural Costa Short Story Award were announced. Congratulations to first prize winner Avril Joy, who wrote ‘Millie and Bird’. This was one of six shortlisted stories judged anonymously by the public on the Costa Book Awards website – it sees ‘two young girls find themselves caught in a world where love is unpredictable and attachment is dangerous’. Our congratulations also go out to runners-up Chioma Okereke and Guy Le Jeune, as well as the shortlisted writers Angela Readman, Sheila Llewellyn and Sally Vickers. 
Avril Joy writes novels, short stories and poetry and has recently completed a new venture into crime fiction, Blood Tide, a novel set in the heart of Newcastle. She posts regularly about life and writing on her blog which can be found at www.avriljoy.com. 
Chioma Okereke started her writing career as a poet before turning her hand to fiction. Her debut novel, Bitter Leaf, was published by Virago Press in 2010 and was shortlisted for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize –Best First Book, Africa. She is currently working on her next book. 
Guy Le Jeune started to write two years ago after a long a career in the theatre industry. His work has been commended in the 2011 Sean O’Faolain Prize and was shortlisted for the 2012 Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. For full Award details, please visit the Costa Book Awards website.
20 January 2013
The Sunday Times Private Bank Short Story Award Longlist Announced
The 2013 judges – including Joanna Trollope, Sarah Waters, Andrew O’Hagan and Lionel Shriver – have just announced the longlisted stories for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. Congratulations to all the writers who are now in the running for the £30,000 award. The Longlist: Caroline Adderson – ‘Erection Man’ Junot Diaz – ‘Miss Lora’ Helen Dunmore – ‘Spotted Dick’ Adam Foulds – ‘Tunnelling’ Mark Haddon – ‘The Gun’ Sarah Hall – ‘Evie’ Cynan Jones – ‘The Dig’ Philomena Kearney Byrne – ‘Honda fifty’ Toby Litt – ‘Call it “The Bug” Because I Have No Time to Think of a Better Title’ Belinda McKeon – ‘Eyes on Me, Eyes on You’ Mark McNay – ‘Ten Years Too Late’ C D Rose – ‘Arkady Who Couldn’t See and Artem Who Couldn’t Hear’ Ali Smith – ‘The Beholder’ Graham Swift – ‘I Live Alone’ Claire Vaye Watkins – ‘Rondine al Nido’ Samuel Wright – ‘Best Friend’ For full details of the authors, stories and the award, visit the Book Trust website.
11 January 2013
Winners of the Rubery Short Story Award Announced
Congratulations to Melanie Whipman, winner of the 2012 Rubery Short Story Award. ‘Peacock Girl’ is a story of love, where we are drawn into the world of a mother whose daughter is a female boxer named Our Peacock. The second prize in the competition went to Eve Vamvas for ‘By the Light of the Moon’, while third prize went to Andrea Stephenson for her story ‘The End of Hope’. Congratulations to all of the winners and to the shortlist. The shortlisted writers are: Gail Anderson Sarah Evans Carly Holmes William Kelly Anita Punton Paddy Ricard Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn For full details of the 2012 Rubery Short Story Award and winning stories, visit www.ruberybookaward.com
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