2023 Short Story Competition Shortlist
Congratulations to our 2023 Short Story Shortlisted Entries
| A Burning Need For Justice | Sarah Marriott |
| Between Pages | Michael Pettit |
| Dancing to Our Tune | Ruth Edwardson |
| Drover | Karys Frank |
| Enid and the Lost Boys | Sue Purkiss |
| Exiled Off Main Street | Charles Kitching |
| Heirlooms | Christine Venzon |
| How Do The Peasants Die | Daisy Stewart Henderson |
| Lights on Water | Caitlin Gunthorp |
| Lost Girl | Brandon Keaton |
| Making Notes | Fenja Hill |
| Miles Away | Claire Buckle |
| My Yellow | Amanda Huggins |
| REGRETS A Song Cycle | Melanie Barrow |
| She Should Have Chosen A Different Adventure | Louise Cook |
| The Auspicious Mrs Hunter | Mary Francis |
| The Best Way to Burn | Paul Myatt |
| The Canine Guardian Angel | Neil Humphrey |
| THE GIFT | Lynn Baxter |
| The gift | Ting Randle |
| The librarian and the cowboy | Marilyn Messenger |
| The Parts We Play | Lucille Agapov |
| The Sky is Always Blue | Patricia Minson |
| The Soft Rope | Suzanne Jeans |
| The Thing with My Second-Best Barbie | Emma Phillips |
| The Winged Warrier | Sue Hatt |
Claire Fuller’s much anticipated fifth novel The Memory of Animals was published in April this year and her fourth (Unsettled Ground) featured at our Festival Book Group event last year – the subject of a fascinating discussion! Unsettled Ground also won the Costa Novel Award 2021 and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Claire’s books have been translated into more than 20 languages, she also writes flash fiction and short stories. She has won the Royal Academy / Pin Drop prize as well as the BBC Opening Lines short story competition. She will make an excellent judge for our own 31st Short Story Competition.
First Prize £750. Second and third prizes £300 and £200. Plus £100 for a local author.
Prize Giving and Poetry Reading takes place on Monday 30 October 2023 as part of the Festival.
Book your free seat here.