The Walter Swan Short Story Prize 2017-18. Announcing Our Shortlist, Prize Giving and Anthology Book Launch!

We announced our longlist for the Walter Swan Short Story Prize 2017-18 last month. We are delighted today to announce our shortlist and details of the prize giving event and Anthology launch which will take place at 7.30pm on Tuesday 22nd May at the Leeds Library. This is a free event but please register your attendance here.

Our judges, Anna Chilvers and Angela Readman, have worked really hard to find their top six stories. Anna Chilvers says, “The two of us separately read the longlisted stories and came up with our shortlists, which we then we compared. What was amazing was that they were so similar. Nearly all of the shortlisted stories were on both of our lists.

The successful stories all created a convincing world, with characters we cared about and believed in, and story events which came to a satisfying end. They all felt as though they fitted the shape they were given – rather than being a novel crammed into a short story. They used language in a clear and imaginative way which enhanced the reading experience rather than drawing attention to itself.

Using a Eurovision style point system, we were easily able to agree on a final six which are:

The Final Delivery – Andrea Brittan
A Delicate Balance – Sarah Brooks
The Change – Kim Fleet
Wonderland – Maureen Lennon
Touched – Megan Taylor
All Things Bright and Beautiful – P.V. Wolseley.

The final three prize winners will be announced on 22nd May at the Prize Giving evening.

Congratulations everybody!

Prize Giving and Anthology Book Launch

Please join us for our Prize Giving evening where we will announce our 3 winners and launch The Walter Swan Short Story Prize 2017-18 Anthology, published by Valley Press. Tickets are free but please register your attendance here.

The competition is run by the Northern Short Story Festival and the Leeds Big Bookend Festival in partnership with the Walter Swan Trust.

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