With just over a week to go until we announce the winner of this year’s BSSP and publish our 14th anthology, please meet ten of the 20 writers in the running for this year’s first prize. We’ll introduce the remaining ten tomorrow.
Gayathiri Dhevi Appathurai has an Engineering degree in Electronics & Instrumentation and works in the Information Technology industry. She is a trained Indian Classical Carnatic musician and has performed in renowned fine arts venues in southern India. Her other creative pursuits include sketching, painting and sculpting. She lives with her husband in Mumbai.
Originally from Chile, but raised in Switzerland, Isidora Cortes-Monroy has always navigated her intercultural world through literature. Having left her studies in Hotel Management in 2015, she went on to do a BA in English Literature and Spanish at the University of Manchester, an MPhil in Comparative Literatures at the University of Cambridge, and she will be starting a PhD in Hispanic Literatures at the University of Toronto this September. Earlier this year, she won her first writing competition, held by the Jane Austen Literary Foundation.
Nina Cullinane is based on the Isle of Wight. She has an MA in Creative Writing from UEA, has taught Creative Writing and done all sorts of arts jobs to support her writing. Nina was a recipient of New Writing South’s NWS10 scheme for promising writers in the South. Her novel, currently on submission, has received commendations and been placed in competitions, and her short fiction has appeared in Litro online. She is drawn to writing about seaside towns and social conflict, illness, ageing and the ghosts of our pasts. Alongside short fiction, she is working on a second novel.
Kevin Donnellan is an Irish writer and journalist based in England. He became a journalist in order to pursue writing and recently decided to become a writer in order to actually pursue writing. His journalism focused on debunking misinformation found on social media. Kevin’s byline has appeared in numerous publications including: The Times, Reuters and VICE. Outside of writing, Kevin has two young children and enjoys running around the Hampshire countryside.
Louise Finnigan is a novelist and short story writer. Her work has been longlisted for the Mairtin Crawford Award and shortlisted for the Cambridge and Manchester Fiction Prize. Her story, Muscle and Mouth, was published by Fly on the Wall press as part of their 2021 shorts season. She holds a degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Manchester. Her stories are set on council estates, in high-rise flats or cheap holiday resorts and aim to present the complexity of situations and lives that might be easily dismissed as non-literary. She is working on her first novel.
David Frankel’s short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines including Unthology, New Short Stories, Structo, Under the Radar, Prole and The London Magazine. He has been shortlisted in a number of competitions, including the the Bridport Prize and the Fish Memoir Prize. He also writes nonfiction which has been published in various journals and publications both online and in print.
Gonzalo C. Garcia is a Chilean writer and Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at the Warwick Writing Programme. His first novel, We Are The End, was launched in October 2017 with Galley Beggar Press and was nominated for the Edinburgh Festival First Novel Award 2017. He is currently working on his second book and teaching Creative Writing.
Susanna Gould was born and brought up in South London. She studied English and later trained in Theatre Directing. Her career has included work as a teacher, theatre maker and community arts consultant. She was longlisted for the 2020 Mslexia Short Story Prize and is currently working on a novel set in Norway that explores family and creativity.
S.P. Hannaway is drawn to the weird and wonderful. His first story appeared in Litro Online in 2014. Since then, his work has cropped up in journals such as Dream Catcher, Brittle Star, Lighthouse, Neon, The Interpreter’s House, Ambit and Stand. He has recently completed an MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths. He has worked as an actor (in a previous life) and lives in London.
Dr Frances Hurd has a longstanding interest in the social and emotional impacts of war which informs her fiction and nonfiction work. She has a PhD in Early Modern History and a professional background in education and heritage. Frances regularly writes and lectures on social and historical topics, and is currently exploring the period 1840 to 1940 through the lives of ten families linked by a single photograph.
The winner of this year’s BSSP will be announced on October 9th. Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 14, featuring the 20 stories shortlisted for this year’s BSSP, will be published on October 9th and is available to pre-order from our publisher, Tangent Books, here: https://www.tangentbooks.co.uk/shop/bristol-short-story-prize-volume-14