Chris Beckett..........The Turing Test..........................Elastic Press
Gerard Donovan.........Country of the Grand....................Faber
Anne Enright.............Yesterday’s Weather.....................Random House
Shena Mackay..........The Atmospheric Railway................Random House
Ali Smith..................The First Person and Other Stories...Hamish Hamilton
James Walton, Chair of the judges, commented:
‘I'm delighted to be judging the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, especially at a time when short stories are making such a comeback - as you can see from all the distinguished writers on the shortlist.’
Ailsa Cox, Reader in Creative Writing and English at Edge Hill University, commented:
‘We're thrilled by the range and quality of the shortlist. Some of these names are already familiar from the Booker and the Orange Prize, while others are newer discoveries. Not many prizes put a science fiction author from a small press alongside the literary heavyweights! I'm especially pleased that there's so much humour in the writing - another great year for the prize.’
The winning author will be presented with the £5,000 prize at the Bluecoat, Liverpool on 4 July.
The second prize winner and the readers’ prize will also receive £1,000 each. The readers’ prize is judged primarily by Get into Reading, an organisation that gives people who might not normally think of joining a reading group a chance to enjoy stories and poems together.
This year’s judges are James Walton, journalist and chair of BBC Radio 4’s The Write Stuff; Claire Keegan, last year’s winner of the Prize and Mark Flinn, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Edge Hill University.
The annual prize, which was launched by Edge Hill University three years ago, is the only competition in the UK for the best short story collection by a single author. The prize is co-sponsored by Blackwell bookshop. 372
