Wednesday 3 July 2013

Edge Hill Short Story Prize... One day to go!

I've feasted my way through a lot of the longlist, and all of the shortlist... tomorrow is the big day. 

The Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2013 winner will be announced and presented at the awards ceremony tomorrow in London.

The impressive longlist was whittled down to a shortlist of six exceptional short story collections:

 - Kevin Barry  Dark Lies the Island (Jonathan Cape)
- Emma Donoghue  Astray (Pan Macmillan)
- Adam Marek  The Stone Thrower (Comma Press)
- John McGregor  This Isn't The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You (Bloomsbury)
- Jane Rogers  Hitting Trees With Sticks (Comma Press)
- Lucy Woods  Diving Belles (Bloomsbury)


These are all accomplished collections, and I massively admire all the writers' work. For each collection there are at least two or three stories which have lodged and keep returning to me. I think that's one indicator of a strong collection. I wish them all the best of luck at the awards tomorrow. I'm looking forward to finding out who has won the main prize and who has been awarded the Readers' Choice award and hearing their specific reasons for their choices.