Bristol Short Story Prize announce longlist

The longlist for the 2015 Bristol Short Story Prize is now out with the 40 entries which will ultimately be vying for top spot. The competition, now in  its eigth year, received 2,420 stories from all over the world in this latest round.  Writers from the USA, Australia, Canada, Romania, France, South Africa and Ireland as well as several based in the UK feature in the list.

Bristol-based writer Kerry Hood also makes the list with Quiet House. Hood’s previous work People Like Her appears in The Bristol Prize 2012 Anthology Vol 5.

Bristol Short Story Prize Coordinator, Joe Melia, says: “We’re thrilled to be able to announce a longlist of fantastic stories and writers. Once again this year, the variety and originality of the entries has been stunning, demonstrating the fertile and vibrant nature of current short story writing. This made selecting the 40 stories for the longlist a very exciting and inspiring task. We’d like to thank all the writers who entered for providing us with such great reading.”

The 2015 Bristol Short Story Prize shortlist of 20 stories will be announced on Wednesday August 5. Those 20 stories, selected by judges Sara Davies who is a former Radio 4 producer, Literary Agent, Rowan Lawton, and writers Sanjida O’Connell and Nikesh Shukla, will be published in the 8th Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology and will be in the running for this year’s first prize. 

The winner of the 2015 Bristol Short Story Prize will be announced at an awards ceremony in Bristol on October 10. 

www.bristolprize.co.uk

2015 Bristol Short Story Prize Longlist (listed A-Z by author) 

Melodramas for Depressed Persons – Charles Anderson (Canada) 

Birds – Ea Anderson (Scotland) 

The Plait – Michael Bird (Romania)

A Tough New Policy at the Food Pantry – Lisa K Buchanan (USA)

Magpie – Gina Challen (England)

The Siege of Boss and White – Graeme Dart (England)

Justice – Florence Delaney  (England)

Capturing the Graham Children – Linda Dobbs (England)

Just After We Stopped Talking – Chris Edwards-Pritchard (England) 

A Constellation is a Group of Stars – Rachel Finn-Lohmann (USA)

Withdrawal – Samir Guglani (England)

The River of Running Sand – Jane Eaton Hamilton (Canada)

Quiet House – Kerry Hood (England)

Airtight – Mark Illis (England)

Served With Salad – Laura Jeffrey (Scotland)

Rescue Mission – Ciaron Kelly (Australia)

The Double: a Permalink Poem – Katie Lola (England)

Between the Pickles – J.R. McConvey (Canada)

Stafford Street – Riona Judge McCormack (South Africa)

Birthday Bones – Magdalena McGuire (Australia)

The Ice Ages – Paul McMichael (England)

Plateau – Katayoun Medhat (England)

Black Line – Fiona Mitchell (England)

My Dad’s American – Guy Mitchell (England)

The Peat Cutter – Andrew Moffat (Scotland)

LOL – Helen Morris (England)

The Guest House – Candy Neubert (England)

Clem – Pam Plumb (England)

House of Doors – P.K.Read (France)

Hate, Love and Game Theory – Stewart Ritchie (Scotland)

Dance of the Light Deprived Children – Derek Routledge (Wales)

A Misfortunate Accident – Martina Ryan (Ireland)

Marbles – Penny Simpson (Wales)

The Changeling – Emma Staughton (England)

The Matriarch – Deschaney Tate (England)

Flowers – Emma Timpany (England)

God’s Fingers – Josie Turner (England)

A Week on the Water – Brent van Staalduinen (Canada)

Natural Order – Alison Wray (England)

The Zoo – Jeremy Charles Yang  (England)