2019 Short Story Prize

‘Arrives and lands with a thrilling confidence, quickly establishing an atmosphere that is subtle but indelible.’ Emma Paterson on the 2019 Winner

‘Eclectic, accomplished, bursting with life – an act of literature in discovery. It pushes and pulls the reader in all sorts of directions, yet remains centred around one consistent premise: the joy of the written word’ Kit Caless

‘An amazingly diverse list. All the stories have their own unique energy and power.’ Zoe Gilbert

‘One of the best multi-author short-story collections that I have read in recent years. The 2019 Longlist achieved an impressive feat, demonstrating the variety and power of the form.’ Jarred McGinnis

First Prize: A Body Is an Empty Vessel, James Mitchell

Second Prize: Life with Animals, Rosanna Hildyard

Third Prize: Hot Butter on Repeat, Judith Wilson

Shortlist:

The Girls, Isha Karki

The Four Kind Women, Melody Razak

The Weight of Nothing, Toby Wallis

Longlist:

Black Gull Beach, Ellen Hardy

Lowenna’s mother-in-law, Holly Barratt

Olive and Red, Kerry Hood

One for Sorrow or, In the Garden of

Wasted Things, T. Schroeder

Open House, Emily Bullock

The Littoral Zone, Sylvia Warren

PODCAST: Listen to 2019 1st Prize winner James Mitchell chat to our bookseller/SSP director Kate Ellis and MIR’s Peter J Coles about his winning story ‘A Body is An Empty Vessel’, writing, ASMR, and books.

Our 2019 Prize Judges

Zoe Gilbert is the author of Folk, currently longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and is a previous winner of the Costa Short Story Award.
She’s a co-founder of London Lit Lab, where she teaches creative writing. She was also a previous attendee of the Brick Lane Bookshop writer’s group.


Zoe says “I love stories that surprise me – be that with their form, language, imagery, plot or attitude.”
Kit Caless is a publisher at Influx Press. He’s spotted such short story greats as Eley Williams and Clare Fisher. Kit is also a writer and regularly contributes to magazines such Vice and The Quietus. Some of his favourite writers are ZZ Packer, JG Ballard, Nicola Barker and Michael Chabon.


Kit is after “Writing that plays with form, writing with a strong voice, a story that hasn’t been told before.”
Emma Paterson is a literary agent at Aitken Alexander Associates. Emma represents Chris Power, Sharlene Teo and Megan Hunter, among others. 


Emma is looking for “a story that pays attention to language, atmosphere and place, and a story that lands.”