Isidora Cortes-Monroy (above, left) has won the 2021 Bristol Short Story Prize with her story, Cake for the Disappeared.
Isidora’s triumph was announced at our online awards ceremony on Saturday October 9th. Judge, bookseller Tom Robinson, says the winning story is “an extraordinary mix of strangeness and poignancy and (is) an immensely difficult story to pull off. The balance of horror, humour, simplicity and humanity is beautifully handled.”
Amanda Ong (above, centre) was awarded second prize for her story, Sifters.
Literary agent, Irene Baldoni who was on this year’s judging panel, says: “Sifters is literature in action – a touching, heartfelt act of memory and care, in this case even before someone we love has left us forever. The narrator knows that words cannot, ultimately, enclose a human existence in its wholeness and uniqueness. And yet they keep writing, gracefully, committing to paper one memory after the other, and we cannot but keep reading, thus becoming part of this attempt to defeat time.”
Third prize went to Sarah Tinsley (above, right) and her story I Don’t Know What I’ve Lost.
Award-winning writer and judge for this year’s BSSP, Mahsuda Snaith says: “With brilliant imagery and cold realism amongst the surreal, I Don’t Know What I’ve Lost reflects the sometimes exhausting, bewildering and conflicting feelings of first-time parenting. This story got my imagination firing and hit me in the gut with its vivid depiction of the rarely spoken about topic of the downside of parenting.”
The top 3 stories plus the 17 other shortlisted stories are available in our new anthology from Tangent Books and can also be ordered from bookshops and online.
Stefan Mohamed won this year’s Sansom Award for Bristol writers with his intriguing story, Reservation. It will be published on Bristol 24/7’s website soon.
It was great to celebrate the writers at the event and hear readings from the stories.
We were also able to congratulate this year’s anthology cover designer, Aitana Raguán-Hernández, in person and hear more about her work.