New Short Stories 4 author wins big prize

Society of Authors' 2010 Awards, London, 15 June 2010

Very pleased to report that twice Willesden Herald short story competition finalist Carys Davies has been awarded the Olive Cook Short Story Award for her story 'The Quiet'. The award, worth £1,000 and judged by Jane Gardam and Jacob Ross, was set up in 2004 and is awarded every two years. Carys Davies joins the impressive list of previous recipients, Claire Keegan, Bethan Roberts and Alison Macleod. (Willesden Herald)

Read "Precious" by Carys Davies in New Short Stories 4.

New Short Stories 4 now out

The book was launched at a special event this evening in Charles Dickens' house, 48 Doughty Street, London. The results of the Willesden Herald short story competition 2010 were revealed at the end of the evening.

The 2010 prize mug goes to:
"The Architects" by Wena Poon

Equal runners-up:
"Emily Strabnow's Freckles" by Willie Davis
"Falling" by Henrietta Rose-Innes

Richard Peabody says:
"In my next life I'm coming back as the brainy talented author of "The Architects." Talk about brazen, submitting a story about a contest to a writing contest. Does it work? Check. The focus might well be on writers—the same dynamics of love, jealousy, sex, and mentors, applies. New York City is captured in amber. Check. Foreign-born exiles get their due. Check. Authentic dialogue squeezes out sparks. Check. Jokes? Check. Do the juggled balls remain in the air? Check. Yes, I want to be this author, who like a sly child with an Erector Set creates miraculous buildings out of thin air."



The fourteen top short stories for 2010 are included in New Short Stories 4, which is now available.

• Buy the book direct from the publisher
• Amazon.co.uk (UK, Ireland, Europe)
• Amazon.com (Rest of the world)
• More about the book

Steve Moran reading the result

New Short Stories 4 preview

The shortlisted stories for the Willesden short story competition 2010, adjudicated by Richard Peabody, are:

Busy. Come. Wait. - Tom Vowler
Emily Strabnow's Freckles - Willie Davis
Falling - Henrietta Rose-Innes
In the Land of Flies - Julia Goubert
Letters - Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Love and Longing in the Marvellous City - Jonathan Attrill
Monkey Hat - Kevin Spaide
Precious - Carys Davies
The Architects - Wena Poon
Veronika and Roger-Roger - Toby Litt

Also highly commended:

Hope Street - Paul McGuire
Learning Stick - Jarred McGinnis
Pearl - Peggy Riley
Shutters - Jo Cannon

All will be included in the forthcoming anthology "New Short Stories 4". There will now be a very long wait till the results event when we'll be revealing which story takes the prize mug. The date could be as far ahead as end of March I'm hearing*, which I know is a long drag but at least spring may have arrived by then. Meanwhile here's to the short story. Cheers!

* New Short Stories 4 launch and results announcement: Saturday 10 April, The Charles Dickens Museum. Invitation only.

Update 10/4/2010: New Short Stories 4 launched

Another win for New Short Stories author

Juked - 2009 Fiction and Poetry Prizes

Fiction Winner: Jill Widner, 'Bisu and the Missionary's Daughter'

Congratulations Jill! You can read Jill's story "Mina and Fina and Lotte Wattimena" in New Short Stories. It conjures a sultry far eastern scenario of youthful adventure and discovery in rich and evocative detail. (Willesden Herald)

Stop press

the mid-month mini

Hugh Fox cometh, interviews, a new video, hat

Trees lounge

"Infamous author Aden Bell attempts to seduce a Dover edition of Gertrude Stein's famous book, Tender Buttons"

Isn't that the young Gene Wilder? (Willesden Herald)

Cafe Hopeless

Newsletter #7

Pushcart Prize, Pretend Genius, Write This - announcing Pushcart prize nominees, Halloween issue and new book by Dean Strom

Pushcart nominations for Willesden finalists - nominating six out of New Short Stories 3. The nominated stories in order of appearance in the book are by Jo Lloyd, Carys Davies, Morowa Yejidé, Nick Holdstock, Jill Widner and Ben Cheetham. Congratulations and good luck to all - any could win! There is a good possibility that some of next year's short list could also be nominated, so get your hats on and saddle up or mosey down or whatever it is writers do to get into town.

Thoroughbred racing form

Asham Award winner announced

Jo Lloyd is the winner of the 2009 Asham Award. "...her gentle evocative story Because it is Running By won the £1,000 top prize announced on September 26 by chair of judges Di Speirs, executive producer for BBC Radio 4. The prize giving was held at Charleston, East Sussex, during the annual short story festival Small Wonder. The judges, who included David Constantine and Erica Wagner, were unanimous in their praise for Jo Lloyd's story. Among the tributes paid was one from novelist and short story writer Alison MacLeod. “This was one of the best stories I have read this year,” Alison commented. “Subtle, understated and poignant……a balance of eagle-eyed realism and really fresh lyricism …… with perfectly pitched rhythm of prose.” ... Jo Lloyd was brought up in Wales and now lives in Oxford. Her stories have been long listed for the Bridport Prize and she has won this year’s Willesden Herald Short Story Prize for her story Work."

Jo Lloyd's first win was earlier this year in our own competition and her winning story "Work" is in New Short Stories 3. "Jo Lloyd is somehow able to write everyday paragraphs that lift off into flourishes of quiet wisdom - a wisdom whose warmth and sensitivity is in poignant contrast to the cold world she describes." (Rana Dasgupta)

High praise for New Short Stories 3 author

Judge's Report

"Work" is a characteristically understated title for a story that concerns itself with the very ordinary, and manages to find there philosophy, politics, and great vistas of melancholy feeling. I admire it intensely: Jo Lloyd is somehow able to write everyday paragraphs that lift off into flourishes of quiet wisdom - a wisdom whose warmth and sensitivity is in poignant contrast to the cold world she describes.

Like all the best short stories, this is a capacious work of literature, and it confronts the reader with big questions. High-flown captions come to mind: it is about the degradations of capitalism, the nature of contemporary friendship, the meaning of work, of risk and of loyalty - but the story itself prohibits such ungainly representation. Jo has found for it a voice of memorable clarity and simplicity, and it speaks perfectly, beautifully, for itself.

Rana Dasgupta

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The winning story, as chosen by Rana Dasgupta, was "Work" by Jo Lloyd. (Full details)

Anthology

If you would like to read all the shortlisted stories, the best short stories for 2009, they are available now in New Short Stories 3.

Judge

Acclaimed author Rana Dasgupta kindly agreed to choose the winning entries.

About Solo (Fourth Estate, 2009): 'A novel of exceptional, astonishing strangeness, Solo confirms Rana Dasgupta as the most unexpected and original Indian writer of his generation.' (Salman Rushdie)

Tokyo Cancelled (Harper Collins, 2005) has been translated into nine languages. "Thirteen stories ... marvels of fabulation, visions and voices, rich in startling insights" (TLS). "The stories ... ah, they outdo The Arabian Nights for inventiveness" (Guardian).