Oct 29, 2020 | Joe Melia
Congratulations to our 2011 winner, Emily Bullock, whose second novel is published today. The novel, Inside the Beautiful Inside, is based on the true story of James Norris an American marine who was chained to a stake for fourteen years in Bethlem Hospital for the Insane in London in the early nineteenth century. It has…
Oct 27, 2020 | Joe Melia
Stephen Narain, a writer and teacher based in Orlando, Florida, was recently announced as the winner of this year’s Bristol Short Story Prize for his brilliant story, What In Me Is Dark, Illumine. Stephen, who was raised in the Bahamas by Guyanese parents, has an MFA in Fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has…
Oct 21, 2020 | Joe Melia
Happy publication day to Jennifer Harvey whose second novel, No More Secrets is officially published today by Bookouture in paperback, ebook and audiobook. This is Jennifer’s second novel to be published this year and looks set to follow the great reception her debut, Someone Else’s Daughter, received. Here’s an extract from the publicity for No…
Oct 11, 2020 | Joe Melia
Huge congratulations to Stephen Narain who has won the 2020 Bristol Short Story Prize for his story, What In Me Is Dark Illumine. Stephen, who is based in Orlando, Florida, was announced as the winner by judging panel chair, Billy Kahora, at our online awards ceremony yesterday. Tehila Lieberman won second prize and Faiza Hasan…
Oct 02, 2020 | Joe Melia
There are 8 days to go until we announce the winner of this year’s Bristol Short Story Prize and launch our 13th anthology. Following on from yesterday’s post, please meet the remaining ten writers in the running for this year’s top prize. Radhika Kapur’s work as a copywriter has won awards at Cannes, One Show,…
Oct 01, 2020 | Joe Melia
With the announcement of this year’s BSSP winner and the publication of our 13th anthology just over a week away, it is high time we introduced the 20 writers in the running for this year’s top prize. Here are ten of the writers, we’ll introduce the remaining ten tomorrow. Arif Anwar’s debut novel, The Storm,…
Sep 29, 2020 | Joe Melia
Congratulations to our 2015 winner, Brent van Staalduinen, whose new novel, BOY, was published recently by Canadian publisher, Dundurn Press. BOY is Brent’s second novel and has been receiving great praise: Miriam Toews calls it “Exquisite….BOY is a perfectly compelling protagonist”, while Timothy Taylor, author of The Rule of Stevens, says it is “A mesmerizing coming…
Sep 19, 2020 | Joe Melia
One of our annual highlights is the anthology cover design project we run with the Illustration degree course at the University of the West of England in Bristol. The final year students on the course submit designs from which we select the cover. The brilliant design for this year’s anthology was created by recent graduate,…
Sep 15, 2020 | Joe Melia
Congratulations to Uschi Gatward who has recently secured a book deal for her debut short story collection, English Magic. Uschi, who was shortlisted for the 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize, will have the collection published in 2021 by prestigious independent publisher, Galley Beggar Press. Commenting on The Bookseller website, Uschi said: “I’m very happy indeed that…
Jul 29, 2020 | Joe Melia
We are thrilled to announce the 2020 Bristol Short Story Prize shortlist. These 20 stories will be published in our 13th anthology and the 20 writers are all in the running for this year’s top prize. The winner of the 2020 Bristol Short Story Prize will be announced on October 10th. The two runners up…
Jul 22, 2020 | Joe Melia
We are delighted to announce the longlist for the 2020 Bristol Short Story Prize. All judging decisions have been made and we are thrilled to introduce the 40 writers and stories in the running for this year’s top prize. A huge thank you to all the writers from across the world who sent in their…
Jun 29, 2020 | Joe Melia
Great news for last year’s BSSP third prize winner, S. Bhattacharya-Woodward; Shaoni has been signed by literary agent, Matthew Turner, at the prestigious Rogers Coleridge and White Literary Agency. The agency represents some of the highest profile writers currently at work, including Zadie Smith, Ian Rankin, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Kate Atkinson. Shaoni also recently won…
Jun 25, 2020 | Joe Melia
Many congratulations to J.R. McConvey who has been awarded a Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for his debut collection of stories, Different Beasts. Published last year, the collection of 12 stories includes Between the Pickles, which won second prize in the 2015 Bristol Short Story Prize. Kobo, based in Canada and one of the world’s largest…
Jun 20, 2020 | Joe Melia
Congratulations to Jennifer Harvey, whose debut novel, Someone Else’s Daughter, has been published by Bookouture this week. The psyhological thriller is the first of three novels by Jennifer which will be published by Bookouture over the next 12 months. And here’s an extract from the publicity for Someone Else’s Daughter: ‘A gripping story of the…
May 28, 2020 | Joe Melia
Happy publication day to Dima Alzayat, winner of the 2017 Bristol Short Story Prize, whose debut short story collection Alligator and Other Stories is published today by prestigious UK publisher, Picador. The collection will also be published by Two Dollar Radio in the US tomorrow. The book, which features Dima’s BSSP winning story Ghusl, has…
