Aug 04, 2022 | Joe Melia
It has been great to see Joanna Quinn’s debut novel, The Whalebone Theatre, storming up the bestseller charts in recent weeks. If you’ve not come across the novel yet, here’s a sample of the amazing reviews and reactions it has been receiving: “In classic English Country House novel style, (The Whalebone Theatre) focuses on the…
Jul 27, 2022 | Joe Melia
It is an enormous pleasure to announce the 2022 Bristol Short Story Prize shortlist. These 20 stories and writers remain in the running for this year’s top prize. Massive thanks to our judges, Tom Drake-Lee, Irenosen Okojie and Jessica Taylor, for their care and attentiveness in selecting the shortlist. These are wonderful stories and will…
Jul 20, 2022 | Joe Melia
A huge thank you to everyone who entered this year’s Bristol Short Story Prize. We are extremely grateful for every single submission we received; thank you for sending your stories to us. A big thank you also goes to our readers for their enormous contribution to this year’s competition. And it is with great pleasure…
Jun 14, 2022 | Joe Melia
A happy publication week to Catherine Chanter, whose memoir A Child in the Middle has been published by Linen Press. On her website Catherine, who is also the author of two novels, describes A Child in the Middle as “an intensely personal book, weaving together my own story about the search for my birth parents…
Jun 09, 2022 | Joe Melia
Many congratulations to Brent van Staalduinen on the publication of his debut short story collection, Cut Road by Guernica Editions last week. A short interview with Brent, who has also had 3 novels published since winning the 2015 Bristol Short Story Prize, plus an extract from one of the stories in the new collection, can be…
May 30, 2022 | Joe Melia
Big congratulations to Stephanie Carty whose short story collection, The Peculiarities of Yearning , has just been published by Reflex Press. Reflex describe the collection as being “pulled together by a thread of exploration of what it means to yearn: to long for, suppress, and ultimately allow what matters to emerge and be acted on…
Apr 30, 2022 | Joe Melia
Great news for Aniqah Choudhri; Aniqah’s poem The Unloving Ground has won the €6,000 Moth Poetry Prize, one of the world’s richest prizes for an unpublished poem. The prize was judged by acclaimed poet, Warsan Shire, who described Aniqah’s The Unloving Ground as “a lush, gorgeous poem – one that indulges all of the senses,…
Apr 07, 2022 | Joe Melia
Congratulations to Angela Readman on the publication of her new short story collection, The Girls are Pretty Crocodiles by Valley Press. Booker shortlisted novelist, Alison Moore says: “Angela Readman’s stories have a compelling intimacy and gorgeous imagery, and are often deeply moving – highly recommended reading.” From the publisher’s website: “Bold, beautiful and spiky, Angela…
Mar 31, 2022 | Joe Melia
A very happy publication day to Tom Watson and his debut novel, Metronome, which is officially published today by Bloomsbury. Tom has been receiving great early reviews for Metronome. Naomi Ishiguro calls it ‘taut, unsettling and so completely charged with both tension and emotion’. While Emma Stonex says the novel is “a pure, tender, terrifying…
Jan 25, 2022 | Joe Melia
Many congratulations to Sarah Tinsley on the publication of her debut novel, The Shadows We Cast by SRL Publishing. Sarah’s novel is being launched at a virtual event tonight, 7pm UK time. SRL describe the book as “a dark novel about consent and control that unsettles ideas about victims and villains.” We wish Sarah huge…
Jan 20, 2022 | Joe Melia
Happy publication day to Rebecca F John and her latest novel, The Empty Greatcoat which has been published by Aderyn Press. From Aderyn Press’ website: “When Francis House enlists in the British Army in 1907, at the tender age of fifteen years and three months, he is not thinking about war. He imagines he simply…
Nov 29, 2021 | Joe Melia
It’s great to see that a new short story collection, I Am the Mask Maker and other stories by Rhiannon Lewis was published by Victorina Press earlier this month, the same publisher who brought out Rhiannon’s debut novel, My Beautiful Imperial. The new collection features some of Rhiannon’s stories that have won or been shortlisted…
Nov 12, 2021 | Joe Melia
Happy publication day to Ruth Brandt and her new short story collection, No One Has Any Intention of Building a Wall, published by Fly On The Wall Press. The collection takes its title from Ruth’s short story which was shortlisted for the 2011 Bristol Short Story Prize. From Fly On The Wall’s website: “Ruth Brandt’s…
Nov 09, 2021 | Joe Melia
Congratulations to Rose McDonagh who has been signed by literary agent, Kate Evans at the Peters, Fraser and Dunlop agency. And in more exciting news, Rose’s short story collection, The Dog Husband will be published by Reflex Press next year. The book is described on Reflex’s website as “…a collection of short, literary fiction themed…
Oct 27, 2021 | Joe Melia
Exciting news for Chetna Maroo; her debut novel, Western Lane will be published by Picador in the spring of 2023. The book will also be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the US and Knopf will publish it in Canada. Ravi Mirchandani, Picador’s editor-in-chief, quoted on The Bookseller magazine’s website says: “I was struck…
