Edge Hill Prize Longlist 2011

I can finally mention the short story collections that I've been reading in recent weeks, as we have just announced the longlist for the Edge Hill Prize. Twenty collections have been longlisted (see below, text by Nicky Speed). I've added images of all the covers: although you certainly can't judge the books by them, I think each cover definitely 'says' something about its book. I'm looking forward to writing about each collection in the coming weeks. 

Martin Bax - Memoirs of a Gone World (Salt Publishing). The world-renowned Consultant Paediatrician lives in London and, in addition to his medical career, is editor of the long-running literary journal Ambit which he founded. 

Alan Beard - You Don't Have to Say (Tindal Street Press). The librarian from Birmingham City University has had the bug for writing from the age of nine and recently had his second collection published to rave reviews.

Peter Bromley - Sky Light and Other Stories (Biscuit). Winner of the Biscuit International Short Fiction Prize in 2009, he walks, writes and runs in North Northumberland.

Jo Cannon - Insignificant Gestures (Pewter Rose Press). The doctor from Essex initially joined a reflective writing group for medics and has just had her debut collection published.

Roshi Fernando - Homesick (Impress Books). The London writer won the 2009 Impress Prize for New Writers. She is also on the long-list for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2011.

David Gaffney - The Half-life of Songs (Salt Publishing). The debt advisor turned writer draws upon these experiences in his written work. He has also written a set of short operas, developed with classical composer Ailis Ni Riain.

Vanessa Gebbie - Storm Warning, Echoes of Conflict (Salt Publishing). The journalist and award-winning short fiction and flash fiction writer is also the editor of Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story.

James Kelman - If it is Your Life (Penguin). Also well known as a cultural and political activist, the Glaswegian won the Booker Prize in 1994 and in 2008 he won Scotland's most prestigious literary award, the Saltire Society's Book of the Year.

Andre Mangeot - True North (Salt Publishing). Prize-winner in the 2006 Peterloo and Wigtown/Scottish National poetry competitions, the Cambridge writer is also a member of the performance group, The Joy of Six.

Jay Merill - God of the Pigeons (Salt Publishing). The freelance editor from London has had her short stories published in a wide number of literary magazines in the UK and USA.

Magnus Mills - Screwtop Thompson (Bloomsbury). The former bus driver from Birmingham was also columnist for The Independent newspaper before becoming a novelist. He won the McKitterick Prize in 1999.

Graham Mort - Touch (Seren). The Lancashire-born creative writing professor is also acknowledged as one of contemporary verse's most accomplished practitioners. He has written short fiction and radio drama for BBC Radio and also won the 2007 Bridport Prize.

Nik Perring - Not So Perfect (Roast Books). The author who lives Cheshire writes mostly short stories, which have been published widely in the UK and abroad and used in a distance learning creative writing course for US high school students.

Susannah Rickards - Hot Kitchen Snow (Salt Publishing). The short fiction writer and creative writing teacher won the Scott Prize in 2010 for her debut collection of short stories

Michele Roberts - Mud, Stories and Sex and Love (Virago). Winner of the WHSmith Literary Award, the half-English half-French writer is also Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Polly Samson - Perfect Lives (Virago). The London-born author and journalist has written lyrics for two number one albums. Married to Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, she has also been asked to judge several prestigious writing competitions.

Helen Simpson - (Random House). Winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and the Hawthornden Prize, she was also selected as one of Granta's top 20 novelists under the age of 40 in 1993. Inflight Entertainment is her fifth short story collection.

Fiona Thackeray - The Secret's in the Folding (Pewter Rose Press). The Edinburgh-born writer who runs a national charity has won prizes in the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday ‘Shorts' competitions. In 2007 she travelled to Poland to give readings at the International Book Festival

Tom Vowler - The Method and Other Stories (Salt Publishing). Winner of the Scott Prize 2010 for this début short fiction collection, he is assistant editor of the literary journal Short FICTION.

Susie Wild - The Art of Contraception (Parthian). The writer, editor and journalist has written for many national publications including The Guardian. Her debut short film, featuring her poem Dim Smoking Girls, won The Co-op Award for New Directors at Beyond TV Festival 2007.

      

                       

   

                                                                                                                                                                       

 

                                                                                                            

     

                

                 

Lots of reading

I'm furiously reading the short story collections which have been entered for the Edge Hill Prize 2011, (the longlist will be announced shortly). There are stacks of lovely new books waiting to be read (see Ailsa right, with a stack from a previous year). This is the part of working on the prize that I was most excited about: hours and hours of lovely books. I'm squeezing as many short stories into each day as I can. There's a book in my handbag and another in the car. There's one by my bed, another by the computer and another on the windowsill of the room where I currently do most of my writing. My brain is bursting with beautiful short stories. I feel like someone who has eaten too many Thornton's chocolates (it's a feeling I know well).

In between the reading, I'm trying to work on my novel. One chapter is definitely finished, others are in various stages of completion from nearly there to scribbled notes. I hadn't realised how much my writing style and attention span have become geared toward short stories - I'm struggling to stretch myself along the sweep of a story that's much bigger than the ones I'm used to telling.

Writing/reading wise there's lots to look forward to in the coming weeks. The Once Upon a Time competition winners will be announced later this month. I'm looking forward to hearing friends Robert Sheppard and Avril Scott read at Word Soup on March 24th and on 6th April I'll be attending a reading by Jeremy Dyson, (the link is to an article that talks about his 'writing shed' - the domestic arrangements of writers fascinate me!) winner of the 2010 Edge Hill Prize. The reading will be at Edge Hill University.

'Sweet Home'

Stories that have been shortlisted in the Once Upon a Time competition are available to read in the cafe of the Chapel Gallery (see above) and also here on the Chapel Gallery website.

My story, 'Sweet Home' can be read here. 

Once Upon a time...

I entered a competition sponsored by Edge Hill University earlier this year. The competition, Once Upon a Time, was for UK based short story writers and I found out this afternoon that my story 'Sweet Home' has been shortlisted and is currently on display in the cafe of the Chapel Gallery in Ormskirk. Customers can select shortlisted stories to read while they drink and eat and they can nominate their favourite for the readers' prize. The winner of the main prize will be announced at a ceremony in March and will win £250.

I drove past the gallery twice today when I was visiting Edge Hill to catalogue entires for the 2011 Edge Hill Prize. I would have stopped to have a peep at the story if I'd known then that it was on display. 

Chatterbox

I went to see Sarah Millican on her Chatterbox tour last night. I laughed so much that when I got home my throat hurt.

'Going to see a comedian' is one more thing I can tick off my 'Never Done' list which pretty long for someone my age. I'm hoping to cross out a significant portion of the list in 2011. 'Write a novel' is another item on the list. I'm five A3 pages of scribbled notes into the planning of it now, perhaps it's something else I'll be able to cross off in 2011.

Library stuff

Yesterday was Save Our Libraries Day.

Three hundred and fifty libraries are understood to be under threat of closure.

As a family we borrow books, audio books and CDs and occasionally rent a DVD for £1.50 from our library. The children regularly reserve items for free - this week son 2 reserved The Dead by Charlie Higson. I used to attend story time when the children were preschoolers and we've been to comic strip workshops and mobile zoo presentations at the library.

This is my local library. I love it. I hope it's around for many, many years.

So you want to write a novel...

I'm up to my neck in research for the thing beginning with 'n' that I don't want to talk about in case gazillions of hours of reading and writing come to nothing. In between nail-biting, self-doubt and the slow clicks of the keyboard, the movie below made me laugh.

Word Soup: The Baby Aisle

Last night I read a slightly surreal story called 'The baby Aisle' at Word Soup. The story got lots of laughs (I was expecting wry smiles since it was more sinister than funny) and it was nice to read something lighthearted and irreverent.


I had a lovely time and it was fabulous to see some friendly, writerly faces in the audience: Avril Scott, Claire Massey, Carol Fenlon and Amanda Richardson.


Now I have absolutely no excuse not to get stuck into the thing that I'm trying to research at the moment which begins with 'n'. The thing that I don't want to talk about for fear of jinxing it: my n..... 

Sesame Article

The Open University student and alumni magazine Sesame has an article about me in the Winter 2010 issue. I loved my time with the Open University, it really did change my life for the better and one day, if they'll have me, I'd like to be an Open University tutor.

Here's a copy of the article (although it's probably more readable if you follow the link above):

Things to smile about

Although I've learned to appreciate the joy of a timely frown, I'm finding lots of things to smile about at the moment. 

On Sunday morning I had a sudden impulse to decorate my daughter's room. By 6 o'clock her magnolia walls were red and ivory, three pairs of my trousers were in the washing machine and I couldn't lift my right hand above shoulder level but I did every last bit of it myself. Smile.

The week before Christmas I got my Edge Hill staff parking permit. I'm going to be an intern, working on the 2011 Edge Hill Prize. The internship will involve some work in both the corporate marketing and English departments. I'm not being paid, but did I mention that I have a staff parking permit? Smile.

I found this miniature, framed, cross-stitch sampler which belonged to my grandmother. It's smaller than my little finger and I thought that it was lost, but it isn't. Smile.

My other grandmother bought this lovely chair, ostensibly for the whole family for Christmas, but largely because she was fed up of watching me hobble into her house each morning having spent the previous evening at the computer, sitting on a wooden dining room chair. Now I can sit comfortably. I can also swivel. Smile.

A little Christmas present from my sister. Smile.

Christmas slippers. With red reindeer on. Smile.