News

News about the short story

Edge Hill winner announced!

Mature student Avril Scott has been named this year's MA Creative Writing winner in the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2011.

Fast Fiction

From 0 to short story in 60 seconds… Hilary Mantel, Alexei Sayle, AL Kennedy, David Vann, Jackie Kay, and David Almond are just some of the authors available to download from 28 January 2011

Announcing the shortlist for the 2010 BBC prize

This year’s award brings together a high calibre group of new and established authors exploring human relationships at their most dysfunctional and yet sustaining. Splintered families, the persistence of love, the public versus the private and the plight of the outsider all provide a recurring focus for the authors in the running for the award, which marks its fifth year in 2010.

Celebrate Short Story Day

Join Comma Press, Iron Press, Route Publishing, Mslexia, Cadavarine, Flambard Press and many more, in a collaborative toast to fiction’s short form.

Small Wonder festival

A whole festival dedicated to the short story, in September in Charleston, with Booktrust providing the digital content...

Edge Hill shortlist

2010 Edge Hill Short Story Prize shortlist is announced. Five diverse writers have been shortlisted for the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2010. The unique accolade, now in its fourth year, is the UK’s only literary award that recognises a published collection of short stories.

Edge Hill prize longlist

High profile literary names revealed in Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Big names in the literary world as well as screenwriters, an actor and a comedian have entered their works in Edge Hill University’s Short Story Prize 2010.

The Winter House

'The Winter House' is a new short story film and website that has been designed by Naomi Alderman who won the Orange Prize for New Writers in 2006 for her novel Disobedience.

Waterstones announces new short story competition

Perfectly Formed is Waterstones' first short story competition, in association with Pan Macmillan and the Arvon Foundation

New Zealand author CK Stead has won The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2010

New Zealand author CK Stead has won The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2010

New Writer short story competition winners announced

SHORT STORY category - judged by Vanessa Gebbie, author of the collection of short stories, Words from a Glass Bubble, and editor of Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story, both from Salt Publishing.

The longlist for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award is announced

The longlist for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award was announced on Sunday 21 February. Twenty writers - seven women and thirteen men - are competing for the £25,000 prize for a single short story.

The Scott Prize for Short Fiction Shortlist Announced

Salt Publishing have announced the shortlist of the inaugural Scott Prize for Short Fiction

Hand + Star launches online

Hand + Star is an online compendium of new writing and literary reviews.

Electric Twitterature

Electric Literature, an American online literary magazine, will be breaking new ground next week by micro-serialising Rick Moody's new short story Some Contemporary Characters over Twitter. The story will be tweeted over the course of three days on Electric Literature's Twitter channel, @ElectricLit, from 10.00am on Monday 30 November.

Wham! Bam! Story Slam! new night looking for writers

Author, poet and filmmaker Nikesh Shukla brings you a Christmas short story celebration complete with mince pies and the finest literary talent in the city.

Launch of the UK's First Short Adaptation Film Festival: Version

This Week, 13-14 November, Manchester
www.versionfestival.co.uk

Manchester-based short story specialists Comma Press have joined forces with the region's publishing development agency, Literature Northwest, to present a the UK's first adaptation-only film festival. Running next week (13-14 November), Version

Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award is now launched

The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award was launched on 22 October 2009 at Bridgewater House.

Leicester's Short Fuse is looking for writers

Monthly night Short Fuse in Leicester is currently looking for writers to submit stories for their November event, with the theme being BEAUTIFUL GAME.

Short stories about a clever dog

Liven up your lunch hour with the adventures a mortarboard-wearing 'canine sage'.

Patrick Gale defends the short story

The author of Notes from an Exhibition stoutly defends the short story. He even uses the word 'piffle'.

Caine Prize tenth anniversary tour

Caine Prize winners and shortlisted authors will be taking part in a  7-date UK-wide tour supported by Arts Council England.

New issue of Matter magazine

New stories by acclaimed writers Alison MacLeod and Adam Marek feature in the new issue of Matter magazine.

A writing holiday

The School of Life is running a writing holiday in November.

Simon van Booy wins Frank O'Connor

Love Begins in Winter, Simon Van Booy's debut short story collection, has won the 2009 Frank O'Connor Prize.

New £25,000 prize for a single short story

The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award will give £25,000 to a single story.

Human Rights Watch story competition

A story competition for teenagers is raising awareness of the phenomenon of child soldiers.

A call for stories for phones

Ether Books is a new e-publisher selling short works (fiction and non-fiction) to people’s iPhones. 

Short Fuse, Brighton, autumn events

Submissions are being accepted for Short Fuse's autumn programme in both Hastings and Brighton.

Electric Literature

A new short story publication called Electric Literature is available in just about any format you care to read it in.

Winner of the 2009 Bristol Short Story Prize

First prize in the Bristol Short Story Competition has been awarded to Australian writer Elizabeth Jane.

2009 Caine Prize winner

EC Osondo has won the 2009 Caine Prize for African Writing.

50-word stories every 48 hours

Fancy a 50-word story in your inbox every other day?

2009 Edge Hill Short Story Prize winner announced

The Turing Test by Chris Beckett (Elastic Press) is the winner of the 2009 Edge Hill Short Story Prize.

Oxfam's money-raising collections

Ox-Tales is a series of four story collections loosely based on the four elements.

HarperPerennial's year of short stories

The US division of HarperPerennial publishers is celebrating the short story throughout 2009.

Debut collection wins Wales Book of the Year

Deborah Kay Davies' debut collection, Grace, Tamar and Laszlo the Beautiful, has won the 2009 Wales Book of the Year.

Scritture Giovani

It's not particularly newsy, but the Scritture Giovani website is worth looking at for translated short stories.

Get an earful

A new online audiobook site is selling short story downloads for as little 79p.

Alice Munro wins Man Booker International Prize

It's been a good year for the short story: first Elizabeth Strout wins the Pulitzer for Olive Kitteridge and now Alice Munro has been awarded the Man Booker International Prize.

Yeeee-haaw! 'Cowboy Up' short story contest

Moonlight Mesa Associates, Inc. is launching its first annual Cowboy Up short story contest.

Short story collection wins Pulitzer

Apologies for being behind the times with this one, but A SHORT STORY COLLECTION HAS WON THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION!

Write about Jack the Ripper

An intriguing new story competition is asking people to write about Jack the Ripper.

Short stories in the media

Yes, it's true - big articles about the short story.

Tell Tales is back

Tell Tales, the short story collective, will publish their fourth collection in April.

Tobias Wolff wins the Story Prize

The Story Prize, a US award worth $20,000, has been won by Tobias Wolff for his collection Our Story Begins (Knopf, US; Bloomsbury, UK).

Willesden Herald winner announced

The 2009 Willesden Herald short story competition has been won by Jo Lloyd for her story 'Work'.

2008 Aeon Award winners

Forty stories were shortlisted for the 2008 Aeon Award, seven of which were chosen by the judging panel to go to science fiction writer Ian Watson for the final verdict.

Shortbread Stories Writing Project

www.shortbreadstories.com, a non-profit organisation based in Scotland, aims to encourage literacy throughout the country.

Live short stories in Brighton

Short Fuse is kicking off 2009 with a busy programme of live literature events in Brighton.

New magazine seeks submissions

Launching January 2009, First Edition magazine is a new monthly glossy solely dedicated to publishing works by new writers and authors.

Nam Le wins 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize

The Vietnamese-born writer Nam Le has been awarded the 2008 Dylan Thomas prize.

Short Story Library

Short Story Library is a free online magazine which offers poetry, microfiction, flash fiction and short stories on the web.

Interzone 218

Interzone 218 is a Chris Becket special.

New fairy tales online

A new website is being launched for new, original fairy tales.

Write a bit of a very long story

The Forever Story encourages people to contribute to the world’s longest collectively-written story.

New magazine for flash fiction

Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine launched on 1 October 2008.

Clare Wigfall wins the BBC National Short Story Award

Clare Wigfall has won the 2008 BBC NSSA for her story 'The Numbers'.

True stories wanted

Story exists to tell you about fictional short stories, but for once we're making an exception to let you know about a new magazine-based competition.

Short story writer wins podcast award

Adam Maxwell, author of the short story collection Dial M for Monkey, has been awarded a North East Digital Award for Best Podcasting campaign. 

Retelling the fairy tale

The Romance of Trees is a new website all about retelling the fairy tale.

A new magazine for women writers

The Yellow Room is a new short story magazine for women writers.

Could you write a story of 160 characters?

Txt Lit is a new literary genre of creative writing using a mobile phone texting system, or SMS (Short Message System).

Downloadable short stories - for free

The Wireless Theatre Company produces audio short stories, books, comedy sketches and plays, all of which can be downloaded for free from their website.

Short and scary

Two developments in the world of horror fiction.

Website for short story reviews

Short story writer and blogger Tania Hershman has launched a website to review short story collections.

The Fix relaunches online

TTA Press, publisher of short fiction showcases Interzone, Black Static, and Crimewave, also published The Fix. The latter, in its print incarnation, provided critical analyses and reviews of an extensive range of short fiction.

'Magical realism and light fantasy'

Serendipity is a new online monthly magazine dedicated to publishing entertaining magical realism and light fantasy.

US short story website

alexanderbecquer.com's mission is 'to share with everyone the joys of reading and writing good literature.'

'Writer gives his stories away for free' shock!

New Zealand-based short story writer Chris Bell has decided to make his stories freely available on his website.

AL Kennedy's take on the health of the short story in Britain

Scottish author AL Kennedy aired her views about short stories in the Independent on 12 June 2007.

Jonathan Lethem's Promiscuous Materials project

Essayist, novelist and short story writer Jonathan Lethem has made available (with a few restrictions) the rights to some of his stories - for the grand sum of one dollar each.

New Manchester-based magazine

Time For Heroes is a new Manchester-based magazine, looking for submissions.

Transcript

Transcript, the European Internet Review of Books and Writing, is published solely on the Internet and appears once every two months in tri-lingual format (English, French and German).

Spread the (Spoken) Word

Comma Press has launched a series of spoken word mp3s from some of the UK's finest writers of short fiction.

Tales of the Decongested

Short-story writers and enthusiasts Paul Blaney and Rebecca Lattin-Rawstrone set up Tales of the Decongested to raise the profile of the short story in London and to encourage and showcase new talent.

Unanswered Questions: The Hyperliterature Exchange

The Hyperliterature Exchange is an online directory and review of new media literature for sale on the web. More than 120 works are now listed.

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The short story form is better suited to the demands of modern life than the novel.
Simon Prosser Publishing Director Hamish Hamilton

journals and magazines

BBC National Short Story Award find out more