First prize is €1,000. All of the ten stories selected by Michael Collins will be published in the 2012 Fish Anthology. The launch and award ceremony will take place on 11 July at the West Cork Literary Festival. Chris Stewart, author and travel writer, will launch the Anthology. All are welcome.

ABOUT THE WINNER: flash fiction winner - John Mulligan

Author, journalist and Human-Rights activist John Mulligan is from Boyle in County Roscommon. He has had two non-fiction books published; “Dancing on the Waves”, and “Following in the Footsteps of the Four famous Flannerys” in 2007. His debut novel “No Place in the Sun” was published in 2010, and his latest novel "No Place Like Home" is available from Amazon in Kindle format. One of his song lyrics will be recorded by former Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan in August of this year. As well as writing newspaper features, John is working on a book about the Irish in Britain. www.johnmulligan.net

John is in the unprecedented position of coming both first and third in the Fish Flash Fiction Prize.

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To check if your flash fiction story was on the longlist or shortlist

the following links will shortly be active
Flash Fiction Shortlist / Flash Fiction Longlist

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Winners of the 2012 Poetry Prize

1st What Remains by Martin Childs (England)

2nd Before Flight by Michael Ray (Ireland)

3rd Still Life by Laila Farnes (Somalia)

HONORARY MENTIONS:

Dissecting Cod's Eye Day by Nina Larsen (Norway)

Masterclass by Fiona Lynch (Australia)

Pink Sheep by Cassandra Keen (France)

Sonnet 18 by Alexandra Lamb (Australia)

Sunday Evening 1969 by Martin Childs (England)

The Cruelest Jokes Have No Punch Lines by Noah Blaustein

Enclosed by Jane Clarke (Ireland)

To check if your poem was on the longlist or shortlist click the following links
Poetry Shortlist / Poetry Longlist

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Winners of the 2012 Short Memoir Prize

The 10 memoirs below were selected by David Sheilds to be published in the 2012 Fish Anthology.

First: Music Today by Stephen Policoff (USA)

Unusual, not predictable or generic, mixes subjectivity and objectivity, analysis and emotion in interesting way. Nicely avoids sentimentality. - David Shields

The prize is €2,000, of which €1,000 is for travel to the launch of the 2012 Fish Anthology.

Second: Upstairs at Ten by Frank Ortega. (USA)
Intriguing, ironic, disciplined and focused; a colorful anecdote with surprising ending, doesn't misstep, quickly illuminates its theme/idea. Not typical memoir material. - David Shields

The prize is a week in residence at Casa Anna Writers Retreat in La Alpujarra, Spain, with €300 travel expenses.

Third: Surprise by Margo Barnes (USA)
Adept voice, interesting; difficult, violent material well told, evocative descriptions. - David Shields

Runners-Up (in no particular order)

Wondering Who You Are by Sonya Lea (USA)
A good evocation of unreliable memory, intertwined with life and love and loss; illustrates the attempt to handle death through memory and language. - David Shields

The ABC's by Sandra Kobrin (USA)
Evocative, well described, nicely controlled, interesting. - David Shields

Thirteen Scenes (and a Few Jokes) from the Life of a Depressed Comic by Eufemia Fantetti (Canada)
Strong, unique voice and perspective. Interesting material; language/laughter as resolution for depression. - David Shields

Where Gods Rush In by Donna Ward (Australia)

Well-controlled, poised handling; clipped, detached language that avoids self-indulgence. - David Shields

Many Hats by Myrlin Hermes (USA)
Well-handled scene. Skillfully written. - David Shields

Rashers and Rifles by Seamus Scanlon (Ireland)
Strong perspective, assured language, written with precision and clarity. - David Shields

Bird Girl by Orlaine McDonald
Not cliched or obvious, with assured voice, varied perspective, solid language. - David Shields.

To check if your memoir was on the longlist or shortlist click the following links
Memoir Shortlist / Memoir Longlist

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NEWSLETTER 4 April 2012

In This Newsletter:

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Newsletter 25 March 2012

Poetry Prize: Last Call For Submissions
Anam Cara Writers Retreat
Memoir Prize News
Flash Update

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2011/12 FISH SHORT STORY PRIZE RESULTS

as selected by David Mitchell.
1ST PLACE : ROOMMATES by Linda Heuring (USA)
2ND PLACE : TAKEOVER by Jonathan Carr (UK)

3rd place is shared by:
CONSTANCE by Sheena Wilkinson (N. Ireland)
WRONG WHISKY by Fiona O'Rourke (Ireland)

RUNNER UP : THE BIT FROM HER MOUTH by Terry Lynch (Ireland)
RUNNER UP : MONEY BY MARTIN AMIS by Peter Slater (UK)
RUNNER UP : FIRST MATE by Dan Degnan
RUNNER UP : HIDE AND SEEK by Iris Ansell (UK)
RUNNER UP : GROWING PAINS by Atossa Shafaie (USA)
RUNNER UP : JAILHOUSE GOURMET by Roger Jones (Wales)

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Newsletter March 2012

Short Story Prize Results
Flash Fiction Prize: Last Call For Submissions
Poetry Prize
Anam Cara Writers Retreat
Read Articles about Fish Publishing
Memoir Prize News
Writing Courses - Flash Fiction & Memoir

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We are pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2011/12 Fish Short Story Prize. There are 145 stories here, selected from an overall entry of 1,900. We would like to congratulate the writers who made this list.

Because the judging by David Mitchell is not yet completed, we have left out the names of the authors.

The final results will be announced on 17 March on the Fish website and by newsletter.

We have not posted the longlist this year, because it is too long, comprising some 550 stories. We have noticed over the years that the quality of stories overall has risen, which has given rise to the unwieldy longlists. For the 2012 Prize we will be tougher on the marking.

Writers who entered can look at their Author Pages where the mark “B” indicates that the story was longlisted. “A” indicates that the story was shortlisted.

Stories are listed alphabetically.

SHORTLIST

21 Glebe Street

22 Kilos

A Conflict of Interest

A Field of Small Suns

A ghost in the glass

A Little Trouble with the Spirits

A Really Nice Day

A Sense of Justice

A Small Fortune

A Thousand Miles

Aenid of the Neve

An Escapade

Another Version of my Life, in which I am Played by Meryl Streep

Any Common Thug

Any Grand Forest as Seen From Orbit

At The Vanishing Lake

Between the Heaves of Storm

Bird's eye view

Black Dog

Bourne Again

Boycott

Bread and Iron

Buffalo Gap

Care of the Phoenix

Cat Dance

Chinese Pygmalion

Constance

Cotton Fisted Scorpions

Counting Footsteps

Cut You Down Like An Old Oak Tree

Deadheading the Roses

Don't mention the windowbox paradox

Edge of the Village

Entering the Home Straight

Evil Tidings

faded Flowers

Fallen Angel

Family Mart

fifty years and never a cross word

First Mate

Flying to Ladamivar

Free George Clooney in every box!

From Shoreham to Steyning

Furthest From God

Gallio Was Here Pdf

Gemma in the Night

Glimpses

Glitter

Growing Pians

Half a Dozen Eggs

HANGING DAGO SICILIANS

Help Me

Hereafter

hide and seek

How To Drop A Bomb And Other Stories

How to Play Dead

Inheritance

Inspiration

Into The Light

Juba Hotel

Keeper Hill

Killing Time

Knife Discipline

Least Said

Lion-cubs, Skins, Pit-bulls and Us

Live Like Wolves

Love You Long Time

Ma Petite

Mama was

Man in a Boat

Money by Martin Amis

Mud Brothers

Nobody’s Child

NOT AS FAST AS LIGHTNING BOY

Not Like Us

Omur and the Fireman

On His Land

Other Facts Of Life

Other People's Rules

Professor Bushell’s Laboratory

Rabbit, Cow, Trapper

Ravello Steps

Recognition

Romance

Roommates

Rush Hour

Seagulls

September

Shooting Jesus

Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping with a Stranger

Small Pieces

Special

stardust

Starting Out

Sunrise

Takeover

Targets

The Adventures of Pigeon Man and Moss Girl

The Art of the Straight Angle

The Avalanche

The Bit From Her Mouth

The Bomber

The Covalence of Mrs. Treadle

The Day After

The Day the Snow Came

The Deaths of Zlatka Vlachova

The Emperor Who Wanted to Meet Everyone

The Fish Oil Salesman

The Homecoming

The Jailhouse Gourmet

The Language Thing

The Last Testament, and Will, of Charlotte Corday

The Lindbergh Baby

The Long Slow Dance

The Officer's Son

The Orphan and the Bad, Bad Monkey

The Oubliette

The Possibility of Wings

The Problem with Luck

The Removal

The Smiling Comb

The Spirit Upwelling

The Swan's Heart

The Transcriptionist Vanishes

The Tributary

The Turks

The Uraniums

Them Three

THIEVES AND LIARS

This is Kelly, 3.00 a.m.

Three Bags Full

Twenty-one degrees

Unspeakable

What's a man without a 'brother'?

Where Boy Went

Wherever I Lay My Hat

Wisdom

Women Drivers On Taylor's Hill

WRONG WHISKY

Xanthippe's Western Road

You

You Are Beautiful When You Cry

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Newsletter Jan 2012

Short Memoir Contest - Deadline looming

Newsletter Dec 2011

New 2nd prize for the Fish Short Memoir Contest. A week at fabulous Casa Ana Writer's Retreat in Andalucia, Spain.

Newsletter Oct 2011

Latest updates of 2011/12 writing contests with the reward of publication for the winners in the 2012 Fish Anthology. Judges are David Mitchell, David Shields, Billy Collins and Michael Collins. Also news about flash fiction and memoir writing courses plus screenwriting editorial services.

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Launch of the 2011 Fish Anthology

Thanks to all those who attended the launch.

The Anthology was launched by Brian Turner on 6th July, in Bantry, Co Cork, Ireland, during the West Cork Literary Festival

Details of the 2011 Anthology

to buy

Winners Announcement: Fish Poetry and One-Page Prizes 2011

The winners of the Fish Poetry and One-Page Prizes have been chosen by the competition judges – Brian Turner; Poetry, and Chris Stewart; One-Page. Our thanks to them for their time and effort, for their discernment in selecting wonderful work from excellent writers, always a difficult job.

Congratulations from all of us at Fish to the ten successful writers and poets from each competition. We look forward to the publication of these works in the 2011 Fish Anthology. Brian Turner will launch the Anthology at the West Cork Literary Festival on Wed 6 July. All are welcome.

POETRY WINNERS 2011

Winner
Ken Taylor	string theory
Second
Jean Tuomey	Swept Back
Third
Stephanie Scott	The Kwai to Myanmar
Honourable Mentions
Kita Shantiris	The Fall
Diana Adams	Continuum
Michael McCarthy	This Morning
Cecile Callan	Mama Kettle
Malissa Priebe	Practical Advice to the Poet
Jo Bell	Crates
Kirsty McCormack Jette-Julie A. Rosendal	Turning Cover

ONE-PAGE WINNERS 2011

Winner
Seamus Scanlon	The Long Wet Grass
Second
Allison Fletcher	Let There be Light
Third
Simon Poole	Stargazey
Honorable Mentions
Joanna Bury	Satin Pumps
Richard Bond	Passing Over Paradise
John Mulligan	Hey Jude
Margie Wilson	Motherly Instinct
Richard Scarsbrook	The Third Ring
Melanie Amri	The Cupboard
Marie Altzinger Jette-Julie A. Rosendal	Priest Cover

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Shortlists 2011

Here are the shortlists from the Fish One-Page and Poetry Prizes. The winners will be announced on 30 April.

- Shortlist One-Page Prize - Shortlist Poetry Prize -

The long-awaited longlists for the Fish Poetry and One-Page Prizes have been announced.

Click on links below to see longlists.

- Longlist One-Page Prize - Longlist Poetry Prize -

The shortlists will be announced on 22 April, and the final results of both competitions on 30 April. Competition judges Brian Turner (Poetry) and Chris Stewart (One-Page) are already on the job.

We received 1,100 entries to the One-Page Prize, and 1,300 to the Poetry.

17 March. St Patrick’s Day

WHITE SMOKE!

WINNERS OF THE 2010/11 FISH SHORT STORY PRIZE AS CHOSEN BY SIMON MAWER. (See Simon’s thoughts on the judging process and the stories below).

Winner:

The Space Between Louis And Me by Mary O’Donnell (Ireland)

Second:

La Paix by Hannah-Fleur Fitz-Gibbon (UK)

Third:

Big Spirit Blow by Robert Porteous (Australia)

Runners-up, not in order:

Bread and Stone by Sylvia Torti (USA)

The Yellow Cardigan by Vicky Woodcraft (UK)

The Blue Notes by Jenni Lawson (UK)

You Only Know Who Your Mother Is by Kelly Holman (UK)

Off My Trolley by Jude Bridge (Australia)

Casting for Parts by Caroline Greene (UK)

Daddy's Rich and Mummy's Good-Looking by Jo Campbell (UK)

All of us at Fish would like to congratulate these ten writers. The Fish editorial staff worked diligently over the winter to read and shortlist the 1,900 stories that were entered, and I want to thank them for their time and care.

There will be some very disappointed writers on the shortlist that were not selected for the Anthology, and I would like to commend them highly on their achievement. As Simon Mawer indicates in his notes below, all on the shortlist were worthy of inclusion and there was little or nothing separating them from the winners. On another day, they might have been the ones. On another day, they will be.

The prizes will be awarded at the launch of the 2011 Fish Anthology of short stories, flash fiction and poetry. Bantry in west Cork is the location, on Wednesday 6 July, at the West Cork Literary Festival. The ten winning stories will appear in the Anthology alongside the winners of the Fish One-Page and Poetry Prizes.

Winner Mary O’Donnell, already a prominent Irish poet, receives €3,000. Second Hannah-Fleur Fitz-Gibbon gets a week at Anam Cara Writers’ and Artists’ Retreat in West Cork and €300, and third Robert Porteus receives €300. We at Fish hope that all of the writers can join Mary O’Donnell and read from their work at the launch.

Simon Mawer on Judging the Fish Short Story Competition, 2010/2011

“Short story writing is a bit like painting in water colours. It’s an art of precise strokes in which you need to be deft, accurate and sensitive to the faintest imbalance. And if it’s good then the finished whole is somehow more than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, novel writing is more like painting in oils. You can layer, rework, scrub things out, move near, stand back, live with the thing in your studio for a year or more, counterbalance a lapse here with a successful passage there. And all too often the whole is somehow less than its various parts. As a writer I feel I can do the oil painting, more or less; it’s the water colours that make me feel inadequate.

So it was with some trepidation that I received the stories that had made the cut in the Fish Short Story competition this year. No committee decision from now on: it was up to me alone. Aside from being a novelist I have also been a teacher – not of English or Creative Writing but of workaday Biology – and as soon as I turned to the first story I found the teacher in me asking questions: what are the criteria? where is the mark scheme? how can you be objective about this? The answer is, of course, you cannot. Assuming all the stories are competently written (they were) any further judgement must be purely subjective. So, feeling guilty, I threw years of pedagogical conditioning out of the window and sat down to read. I wasn’t a teacher marking exams, I was a writer doing the impossible: trying to rank works of art. And the only way I could do it was by deciding which of these stories I liked best.

What struck me forcibly was the preponderance of family anguish stories among the twenty. Isn’t this theme a trifle hackneyed? Perhaps it comes from that injunction of the Creative Writing course, that you should write about what you know. I’d say, write about what you imagine. Let your imagination take you to places and inside people whom you couldn’t possibly otherwise have known. Imagination is the key, the crux, the hinge on which all art turns.
So I was captivated by the desolate mining world evoked in Big Spirit Blow with its awful shrivelled corpses and the bewildered Ozzies trying to make out what was going on. And the biologist in me loved the gruesome mutated Cordyceps fungus attacking humans as the current species attack insects. The tone is right, the language is right, threat is expertly hinted at. You breathe in the spores as you read.

Closer to home, La Paix seemed a beautifully oblique portrait of a marriage broken by a single, mundane tragedy – half a lifetime distilled into a few thousand words, emotions alluded to rather than stated bluntly. I enjoyed the bleak detachment of the narration and the bitter irony of “insurance”, which is the leitmotiv of the story.

Finally my winner was The Space Between Louis and Me, for its humour and its gentle mockery of our current obsession with the virtual world. With social networks and online gaming replacing human interaction, who can doubt that someone like Louis, or Louisa, is waiting just round the corner for you? Yet beneath the veneer of humour was a real evocation of the isolation that imbues so much of modern life. And, as with a fine water colour, this piece was created with minimal brushstrokes.”

Simon Mawer, March 2011. Rome.

Finally, there are just three days left to the close of the Fish One-Page Prize, which will be judged by Chris Stewart. You can enter a story of 300 words or less online or by post – as long as they are post-marked before the closing date they will qualify.

The Fish Poetry Prize closes in 13 days. Brian Turner is judging and this is an opportunity to be recognized by one of the most interesting and powerful poets of our time.

Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland is the postal address. Entry for each competition is €14 and the first prize is €1,000. The ten best from each competition will be published in the 2011 Fish Anthology.

For writers who wish to improve their skills, the Fish online course in Flash Fiction offers a ten module course over three months. It is designed to be useful and fun, and includes free entry to next year’s One-Page Prize.

The 2011 Fish Short Story Prize will open on 1 June and close 30 Sept 2011.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, wherever you are in the world.

Clem Cairns

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Here is the shortlist for the 2010 Fish Short Story Prize.

Off My Trolly
Bread and Stone
The Yellow Cardigan
After Sabra and Shatila
California
Daddy’s Rich and Mummy’s Good Looking
Viva la Vida
A Prince With a Purpose
Big Spirit Blow
Casting for Parts
This is not Miranda’s Story
The Blue Notes
La Paix
The Yellow Cardigan
Bread and Stone
Song for TJ
The Cat
Every Man to the Boat, Every Woman to the Rope
Cat Dance
Total Challenge
Paint Your Children Red
The Sentence
Taking the Biscuit
The Only Jealousy of Emer
Lights
Hellebores
You Only Know Who Your Mother Is
The Space Between Louis and Me

The final results will be announced on 17 March, and the best ten stories as chosen by Simon Mawer will be published in the 2011 Fish Anthology.

LONGLIST UPDATE

The following four stories have been included on the longlist for the 2010/11 Fish Short Story Prize:

The Spouse House
A Miracle?
The Space Betwwen Louis and Me
The Cottage

Here is the longlist for the 2010/11 Short Story Prize. All of us at Fish who read and selected the stories wish the writers a hearty congratulations. These 168 stories were chosen from the 1,900 entries we reveived. We greatly enjoyed reading the stories from writers from all over the world, and would like to thank all who entered. If your story has not been longlisted, please do not be disgouraged. As Colum McCann says – Keep writing, keep creating, keep the faith. The Fish Critique Service is there to assist writers who want useful and constructive opinion on their work, and at a reasonable price.

We will announce the shortlist in two weeks, and the winners on 17 March. The Anthology will be launched by Brian Turner on Wed 6 July at the West Cork Literary Festival. All are welcome to attend.

The Fish One-Page and Poetry Prizes are still open for entries, and the best ten from each will be published alongside the ten best from the Short Story Prize, as chosen by Simon Mawer.

Clem Cairns

To preserve the anonymity of the authors in the judging process, the names have been withheld until the winners are announced. We have emailed all of the authors on the longlist. If your story is listed below but you didn’t receive the email you can contact info@fishpublishing.com for confirmation.

7.8
1000 Cranes
A Farewell To Childhood
A Good Man
A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow
A Marathon in Stages
A Prince With A Purpose
A Wake On Sirius
After Sabra and Shatila
Aluk To Dolo
Apassionata
Automata of Love
Bang!
Big Spirit Blow
Branches
Bread and Stone
Burning Man
California
Casting for Parts
Cat Dance
Cleaner
Cleaner
Cleaner
Clearance
Coach 23
Cold Beer
Con-fusion
Connected
Control
Cornerstones
Creatures of Light
Crumbs.
DADDY'S RICH AND MUMMY'S GOODLOOKING
Dancing at the Termini
Dandelion Clock
Day Come White, Night Come Black
Day of Firsts
Departures
Digging Holes
Disneyland Poker
Every Man to the Boat, Every Woman to the Rope
Ex-Boyfriend In Prison
Fait Accompli
Flora
Fortress
Gait
Gathering Storm
Gertrude
GETTING RID OF OVID.c Goldenhand
Gone is Discord
Heaven Knows
Hellbores
High Tea
Hold
If Walls Could Talk
IMPROVISATION AT A JAZZ FESTIVAL
In Stitches
In the Service of the Demon
In the wake of the storm
Judy In The Garden
Kaboom
King o' the Jungle
Kunmarnarranya
La Paix
Late Night Market Street
Let Me Take You Down
Lights
M's Story
Mahihkan
Marta
Maternity Leave
Michael and the Four Da's
Moon Walking
MURIELLE'S ANGEL
My Beautiful Dad
My Name is Margaret
NEVER THE GLADIATOR
No Sweat
Nosebleed
Off My Trolly
On Holy Ground
Once Upon a Time
Open Your Eyes
Paint Your Children Red
Papa's Kitchen
Parting Shot
Phosphorescence
Prayers to Broken Stone
PRAYING FOR A CROP FAILURE
Rash Accusation
Reflections
Remember Rwanda
Role Model
Ruined Days
RUMINATING
Securely In Place
Seth's Story
Shifting Realities
Slumber
Snapshots
Snowflakes
SOME DETAILS ABOUT THE BAY
Some Friend
Something Important
Sometimes Gulls Kill Other Gulls
Song for TJ
Speak Russian to Me
Starling
Status Update
Staycation
Stella
Taking the Biscuit
Tellyman
Terra Rosa
Testament
That Summer
The Adventures of Nonnie and Clive
The Atrocities of the Picts
The Best Job
The Black Bull in Paradise
The Blue Notes
The Boat ride to Battumbang
The Book That Came in Hard Cover and Hardcore
The Boy with his Head in the Sand
The Cat
The Cobweb
The Comfort of Blankets
The Concert
The Cowshed
The Crossing
The Delete Key
The Epiphanic Moment
The Eye of the Needle
The Ghost of Yoshi Yamada
The Intrepid Adventures of Ralph Ingleton
The Little Fella
the milk and the chalk
THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON
The Only Jealousy of Emer
The Packed Lunch
The Photograph
The Price of Chili
The recipe
The Sentence
The smell of touch
The Space Between Stations
The Speed of Sound
The Statistician
The Sting
The Tale Of The Egg Of King Rúm or A Fairy-tale About Fairy-tales
The Trivial Pursuits of Life
The Usual Deadline Gremlins
The Vacation
The Waiting Room
The Yellow Cardigan
The_Last_House
Things
Thirst
This is Not Miranda's Story
Three Months of summer
Three Needles Cave
Total Challenge
Viva la Vida
When She Was Ten
Where Hitler Was
Yellower Than a Buttered Possum in Custard
You Only Know Who Your Mother Is

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New Online Flash Fiction Writing Course! For those who love to write and love to learn while having fun. Fish have designed a course do do in your own time online. You will learn the tricky arts of writing fiction of 300 words or less - it's surprisingly difficult - and at the end of it get your Flash piece entered in the Fish One-Page Prize. If you come in the top 10 your story will be published in the 2011 Fish Anthology.

Winners of the 2010 Fish Poetry Prize, as chosen by Matthew Sweeney.

FIRST
Limbo, Catherine Phil McCarthy

SECOND
The Mirror Ball, Alexander Narkiewicz

THIRD
Last Night I Lay Awake, Toby Fitch

RUNNERS-UP (In no particular order)

Ward Allen Woods, Ken Taylor

Debris Field, Frederick Pollack

The Fisherman’s Song to the Mermaid, Breda Wall Ryan

Upstairs, Ron Carey

The Public Poet, Frank Prem

The Slim Volume, Terry McDonagh

Getting Dressed, Helena Nolan

Congratulations to Catherine Phil McCarthy, the overall winner, and to the nine other poets who have succeeded in a field of almost a thousand entries. The ten winning poems will be published in the 2010 Fish Anthology, which will be launched at the West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry on 7 July. The Anthology will be available to buy through the Fish website, and from bookshops.

We are grateful to Matthew Sweeney, who read all of the entries while choosing the winners.

Shortlist for the 2010 Fish Poetry Prize, selected by Matthew Sweeney.

Ward Allen Woods, Ken Taylor

Debris Field, Frederick Pollack

Draft, Dore Kiesselbach

Coastal, David Mohan

Upstairs, Ron Carey

John Ashbery at Battell Chapel, M J Millington

Bunker, Sharon Black

Far Call, Chris Andrews

The Public Poet, Frank Prem

The Mirror Ball, Alexander Narkiewicz

Ellipsis, Ken Taylor

Ice Fishing, Kaddy Benyon

Maggie Philomena, Mary Woodward

Idiots, Andrew James Hory

House Viewing, Jessica Traynor

Demeter and Persophone, Jessica Traynor

Shanghai Shorts, Dipika Mukherjee

Last Night I Lay Awake, Toby Fitch

After, Jacqueline Mezec

If This Were a Bus, Michael Swan

Getting Dressed, Helena Nolan

The Bosque Burns on the Feast of John the Baptist, Anna Marie Craighead-Kintis

The Fisherman’s Song to the Mermaid, Breda Wall Ryan

Limbo, Catherine Phil McCarthy

The Slim Volume, Terry McDonagh

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We are delight to announce the winners of the 2010 Fish One-Page Prize, as chosen by John Hegley and Simon Munnery.

Winner
Darling Mummy	Zoe Sinclair
Second
Counting Na'an	Henrietta Guay
Third
The Gold in Her Ring	Susan O'Connor
Runners-Up
Unfaithful Wings	Roanne O'Neil
Buddhists and Elephants	Kyle Martin Jones
And God Said	Simon Cornish
The Will and Testament Before Last	Richard Bardwell
I Thought You Should Know	Julie Balloo
Wise Guys	Ted Sheehy
I Don't Forget	Seamus Scanlon

These ten stories will be published in the 2010 Fish Anthology, to be launched at the West Cork Literary Festival in West Cork on Wed 7 July. We hope to have many of the winners at the launch to receive their prizes and to read their stories. All who entered the prize are very welcome at the launch, with friends and family.
Many thanks to John Hegley and Simon Munnery for their time and wisdom, and to the denizens of The Bricklayer's Arms in Luton who were treated to readings of some of the winning flashes.

NOTICE

The results of the 2010 Fish Poetry Prize will not be announced until 10 May. We apologize for the delay. It was unavoidable, as judge Matthew Sweeney fell victim to the Icelandic ash cloud and was stuck abroad during the time he had dedicated to finalizing his selection.

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Shortlist for the One-Page Prize is announced.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here are the winners of the 2009/10 Fish Short Story Prize as chosen by competition judge, Ronan Bennett:

First

Jane Camens

A Matter of Luck

Second

Eve Vamvas

The Birthday Book

Third

Stef Pixner

The Sort of Luck That Happens to Curtis

Runners-up (in no particular order).

Gabriel Valjan	Back in the Day
Gabriela Blandy	Playing with guns
Ingrid Baier	The Best Laid Plans
Stef Pixner	The Window Kisser
Wendy Dranfield	Blue
Bernadette M Smyth	Sightseeing in Louth
Jacob M Appel	Ghost Wedding

These stories will be published in the 2010 Fish Anthology

The shortlist of 140 stories has now been selected, so congratulations to those writers who have been selected.

Well done to the writers who have made the longlist to the Fish Short Story Prize. There were 1,800 entries, and the list comprises about a fifth of that.

The final results as chosen by Ronan Bennett will be announced on 17 March on this page, and the anthology of winning stories will be launched at the West Cork Literary Festival on Wed 7 July. All are welcome.

The anthology will be available from Fish for 12 euro from July.

To check if your story has made it into the longlist or stortlist please click on the links:

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Shortlist

Longlist

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bruce Sterling's story, 'Milk Run', runner up in the 2008 Fish One-Page Prize contest, is being made into a short film by director-producer Julian Grant (HBO, Lionsgate). Mr. Grant recently made Bruce's noir short story Screw the Pepperoni (Out of the Gutter, Volume 4) into a short film. Screw the Pepperoni is viewable at http://juliangrant.com/artwork/601513.html. The Family, a dystopian short story about London in 2058, has been selected to be part of an audio book produced by the Tate Modern with stories read by actor Christopher Eccleston (Elizabeth, Gone in Sixty Seconds).

The launch of the 2009 Fish Anthology took place in St Brendan's Church, Bantry, Co. Cork. The audience of 200 was treated to a wonderful evening, with nineteen of the 29 writers from the anthology attending, from Japan, Canada, Australia, the UK and Ireland. All read from their work in a varied and scintillating series of readings. and the anthology was launched by Zimbabwian writer Rory Kilalea, who was giving a workshop at the West Cork Literary Festival.

Ian Wild, overall winner of the Fish Short Story Prize, showed his wide range of acting skills as he read from 'Ten Pint Ted', set in a north of England mining town in the Thatcher era, involving the often surreal relationship between a young man and a ventriloquist dummy.

Winner of the One Page Prize Bernadette M Smyth read her hilarious story - 'In the Car' - of two kids aping adult talk in a beautifully outrageous way

Poetry winner Annie Atkins read her winning poem 'The Locksmith' to a hushed house, and later read her One Page Story 'A Simple Mathematical equation' to much hilarity.

The Fish Anthology is available from bookshops in Ireland and can be ordered through bookshops in most countries, and through Fish Publishing.

RESULTS OF THE 2009 FISH POETRY AND ONE PAGE STORY PRIZES
We are pleased to announce the results of the 2009 Fish Poetry Prize, as judged by Peter Fallon, and of the 2009 Fish One Page Story Prize, judged by Arthur Mathews.

The 2009 Fish Poetry Prize
First Prize: The Locksmith by Annie Atkins

Runners-up: (Not in order)
I Am by Jane Clarke

I Can Move Stars by Mary O’Gorman

The Long Run by Adam Wyeth

This Corolla, Mama by Marcella Spruce

Highly Commended:

Gap Year by Helena Nolan

Factory Girl (Guangdong Province, China) by Marie Altzinger

Congratulations to these poets, who emerged from a field of 700 to be recognised and selected as winners. The winner and runners-up will be published in the 2009 Fish Anthology.

2009 Fish One Page Prize
First Prize: IN THE CAR by Bernadette M. Smyth

Second Prize: THEORETICALLY by Tom Glover

Third Prize: 71st STREET by Theresa Barnett

Runners Up: (Not in order)

APRIL FOOL AND THE FEMINISTAS by D K McCutchen

NIGHT GAMES by Gerry Galvin

THE LAST BULLET by Fia Kenzie

VIEW FROM LIMBO by Colette Dartford

A SIMPLE MATHEMATICAL EQUATION by Annie Atkins

REINCARNATION by Geraldine Walsh

PLAZA DE ARMAS by Rachel S Mann

The award ceremony for these competitions will be at the launch of the 2009 Fish Anthology, and all of the above poems and one page stories will be published in the anthology along with the winners of the 2008 Fish Short Story Prize. The venue is St Brendan’s Church, Bantry, Co. Cork, at 18.30 on Thursday 9 July. It will be part of the week-long West Cork Literary Festival. The Anthology will include unpublished work from Colum McCann and Peter Fallon.

Shortlist for the 2009 Fish One Page Prize

A promise is a promise

How could he?

Cydia Pornonella

CROWS

Hunting the Stag

Season of the Eclipse

Excavating Eve

Nothing

When a Man Wears a Dress

Corner to Corner

Cross With Ned

Jennifer's Legs

Ghetto Nanny

Palm Sunday

300 words

Inside

A final kiss

At the Restaurant

Apocalypse Later On

Argentina 1978.

Eight Whole Days

Wood Chopper

The Last Bullet

The Witness

Dear Auntie Bernie

Homo sirenae

Assignment

The Ashes

Death Can Get Away from You

The Parcel

Hooked On Fishing

The Princess and the Toad (with apologies to Philip Larkin)

Reincarnation

GULLS

Boom, Bust, Bewilderment

A Simple Mathematical Equation

Pit Tragedy

The Burden

Plaza de Armas

The Sparrow

The Rat Laid An Egg

APRIL FOOL & THE FEMINISTAS

Love and Sex with Robots

Verdun

A Green Christmas

A Night at the Pantheon

Breakwater

Cock up

Like No One's Watching

Fountain of Hope

Sigh Away Sunday

Theoretically

Some Things I Learned Along the Way

Binks

Uncertainty

Shining

artichoke hearts

In the blink of an eye

Nixon for President

Road Trip

The Lesson

Pen Imp

father and son

Scorched Earth

Tom Jones

Acceptance

The Raggedy Boys and the Wraith

View From Limbo

Dr. Pa's Neighborhood Grocery

Flotsam

Six degrees of expatriation

Somebody Get Me My Coat

Recovery

Living in a Shoe Box

Boy on a Train

Homecoming

THE MATTRESS

The Broken Areas

She is Mrs da Tanka

Christmas

Skydiving for Pearls

The Hand (Nonno)

transparency

And the crowd goes wild

sex maniac

Snow

"The Veil"

About Love

When Size Matters

Mr Parker

A Briefer History of Time

Happy Birthday Yer Maj

Virgin Flight 244, Chicago to Heathrow

New Dawn

Something New

Portrait of Zeus as a Young Boy

The Catch

Heat

Life Swap

He Stared Into Her Eyes . . .

Little Doll

Closure, Kind of

I Wait

Petals

The Beach

A Small Thing, but Crucial

Teaching Grandmothers

Jane Wilcox

In the Community

Three Legged Cat

Take Away

House

Scarred for Life

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Newsletter. March 2009.

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2008 Fish Short Story Prize, as chosen by Colum McCann.

First: Ian Wild: Ten Pint Ted

Second: Vanessa Gebbie: The Return of the Baker, Edwin Tregear

Third: Annemarie Neary: Painting over Elsa

Honorable Mentions/Runners-up:

Gerry Boland: Bridie’s Birthday Party

Mair Masuda: A Capitalist Adventure

Derek B. Donahoe: Lad

Elizabeth Kuzara: The Weight of Clouds

Dolores Walshe: Jesus On A Cross With Blu-Tack

Ann Ward: Chicken and Beef

Kathryn Fletcher: Epistle of a Doddery Old Bastard

Congratulations to these ten writers, whose stories were chosen from a field of over 1,500 entries. They will be published in the 2009 Fish Anthology, and awarded their prizes at the Launch on Thurs 9 July at the West Cork Literary Festival. This is a public event and all are welcome.

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The Fish One Page Prize closes on 20 March, and stories of up to 300 words can be entered on-line or by post. All details are on the web site. Arthur Mathews is judging and the winners receive cash prizes – 1,000 Euro for the winner and 100 each for nine runners-up, with all ten published in the 2009 Fish Anthology.

The Fish Poetry Prize closes on 30 March. The winners will be published in the Fish Anthology and there are cash prizes. The competition judge Peter Fallon (poet and owner of Irelands´ largest poetry publishing house – The Gallery Press – will read all of the entries.

Full details of postal and on-line entry, entry fees and rules for these two competitions is on the Fish Web site at www.fishpublishing.com

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Shortlist of the 2008 Fish Short Story Prize

We're pleased to announce the shortlist of 118 stories. This list was selected from an overall entry of over 1,500. Congratulations to all of the authors who have been shortlisted. We enjoyed reading all of the entries. The competition was tough and we were overwhelmed by the quality of the stories.

The final selection will be made by Colum McCann, and will be announced before 17 March on this page. The best ten stories will be published in the 2009 Fish Anthology which will be launched in July at the West Cork Literary Festival.

Bridie’s Birthday Party by Gerry Boland

Life During Wartime by Julia Van Middlesworth

Brain Trash by Sheila Tortolano

Love Sick by Billy O’Callaghan

Chicken and Beef by Ann Ward

Jesus on a Cross with Blue Tac by Dolores Walshe

Swan Teeth by JJ Harrington

Stopped by JJ Harrington

Sleepwalker by Beth Cardier

The Heat of the Moment by Patrick Farncombe

The Littlest One by Jasey O’Faolain

The Absent Friend by Campaspe Lloyd-Jacob

The Weight of Clouds by Elizabeth Kuzara

Dust to Dust by Denise O’Leary

Plastic Bags to Burn by Karren Visser

The Magic of Stories by Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn

The Words I’ll Never Say by Emma Sweeney

The Dead Zoo by Stacey Swann

Not Like Us by Hilary Fennell

Personal Development by Ronnie Nixon

Pink and White and Full of Teeth by Janey Huber

Nurses Are . . . by Richard Watkins

Irish Wolfhound by Patricia Jones

Wounded Moon by Gay Degani

Orca by Austin Duffy

Robin Hoodie by Garret Dwyer-Joyce

The Woman in the Loom by Tracey Jane

Dinner by Christopher Young

A Capitalist Adventure by Mair Masuda

Homesick by Cynthia Ann Cadenaro

The Bath by Joby Williams

Sheebeg by Conor McManus

The Dagger-like Bill of the Gannet by Chris Powell

Darkscapes and the Art of Navigation by Bronwyn Blake

Late by Jane Amanda

The Butterfly Collector’s Wife by Holly Dawson

Titli by Dipika Mukherjee

A Devil in Green Underpants by David Kotok

One Spark by Anthony Howcraft

Painting over Elsa by Annemarie Neary

In It To Win by David Gill

New Look by Jo Cannon

One’s Own by Helen Christine Geoghegan

Three of Swords by Hannah Hutchins

A thief or a Liar by Julie Beckham

Ghosts by Rosalind Brackenbury

The Brothers by Maria Murphy

Fifth Avenue by Alicia Shaw

Some Kind of Suicide by Takashi Kendrick

Transformer by Joan Kane Nichols

Cuthbert Henry Arkwirght by Julie Hetherington

The Night of the Leonid Showers by Mary Larkin

Tinshack by Sue Barmos

In Between by John Leahy

Houston and the Blinking What by Ladee Hubbard

Accidental Death by Kaalii Cargill

If You Can’t go Up by Shereen Pandit

Sticks by Celia Bryce

Softly and Suddenly Vanished Away by Gabriela Blandy

Hari-chigai by K Terumi Shorb

The Reclaimer by Louie Henderson

The Eye by Tina Romero

Candyfloss and Doughnuts by Kate Brown

Another City by Niall Ruddy

The Cheese Sandwiches by John McCabe

The Cleansing by John McCabe

Platypus Soup by Mary Moorkens

Guernica by Evelyn Walsh

Woe Hop on Mott Gai by Michelle Perez

Fast Women by Wes Lee

Length of Days by Joan Corwin

The Days He Had Seen by Matthew Weait

Finding Shelter by Eli Hastings

The Fox and the Placenta by Madeline D’Arcy

New Amsterdam by Brian Kirk

Out of Silence by Mairlis McDwyer

Letters to Loved ones, Auschwitz 1943 by RObert Piller

Trust by Thomas Bernard

Sunday Nights at the Shangri-La by Cindy Dale

Wheel of Fortune by Leanne Radojkovich

Happiness is a Warm Gun by Roy Scranton

Her Amber Eyes by Paul Kang

Emergency (Male) by Ian Madden

The Wrong Idea by Sarah MacLeod

The Vermin Episode by Jacob M Appel

Bear Country by Anna Britten

Room With Backside by Anne Stubbings

The Dancing Telemetrist by Trilby Kent

Roses by David O’Dwyer

The Weekend Job by Stacey Cavanagh

How I began Writing by Yael Nussbaum

Till the Amber Turns to Ashes by Stephen Wade

Together Forever by Susan Lanigan

Opposites Detract by James Fearn

Write by Ido Angel

Ten Pint Ted by Ian Wild

Ratio by Paul Michel

Girl with a Teapot by Coral Atkinson

The Return of the Baker Edwin Treagar by Vanessa Gebbie

Windfalls by Elizabeth Pepper

De Profundis by Tony Murfin

A Town called Fidelity by Adrian Searle

Harmony in Grey and Green, Miss Cicely Alexander by Julia Widdows

The Lucky One by Kathleen Ernst

End of the Rope by Majella Cullinane

Men of the Horse by Sanjay Chopra

Stalag XB by George Chuchla

Some Kind of Comfort by Loree Westron

The Emperor´s Concubine by Michele McGrath

Palais by Rob Smith

A Face From the Past by Andrew Clusker

A Biblical Tale by Owen McDevitt

Frangipani by Cheryl Rogers

JFK Night by Barry Troy

Nothin Neath the Wantin by Douglas Bruton

Elephant by Charlotte Wilby

A Trying Life by Mary D´Arcy

A Crime of Unprovoked Hunger by Patrick Curran

Doddery Old Bastard by Kathryn Fletcher

Lad by Derek B Donahoe

Fish Newsletter, Dec 2008. Fish One-Page Prize opens 17 Dec 2008

Contents:
Fish One-Page Prize.
Micro Fiction winners announced.
Fish Editorial Services.
Fish Short Story Prize update.

The Fish One-Page Prize (Flash Fiction), with Arthur Mathews as judge, is now open for entries.

The best ten stories will be published in the 2009 Fish Anthology in July.

First prize is €1,000, with €50 each for the nine runners-up.

Closing 20 March 09.

Results announced 30 April 09.

There is a limit of 300 words.

Winning stories must be available for the Anthology, and therefore not have been published previously.

Entry fee €12 per story on-line. Critique of story (optional) €25.

Postal entry costs €15 each, and €28 for a critique. Send to Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co Cork, Ireland.

There is no entry form. Entry is taken as acceptance of the rules of the competition.

For complete details and on-line entry www.fishpublishing.com info@fishpublishing.com

Micro-Fiction Showcase Winners

We are pleased to announce the overall winners of the Fish 2008 Micro-Fiction Showcase. The two winners will each receive a prize of €500, and will be published along with the runners-up in the 2009 Fish Anthology.

In the Prose, or Story category, the overall winner from the three months is Blown Away by Janine M Milicich, Busselton, Western Australia.

Blown Away

There is nothing like the feeling of a child sleeping on you; Like a paperweight, they keep you from blowing away.

As she laid his little body in that ghastly pine box, she was thousands of loose pages in a storm…

The overall winner of the Poetry category is Bottle by Angela Carr, Dublin, Ireland.

Bottle

From a million grains of sand, I poured.

In a fiery blasted womb, I froze.

On slithering metal lines, I danced.

Across jaded gilded throats, I bled.

On a rippled moonlit shore, I rest:

A prodigal return.

Fish Editorial Consultancy

Fish offers a full Editorial Consultancy Service. The Service is designed to provide writers with on-going, constructive feedback on their work, whether it is a complete novel or just the beginnings. All of the details and costs are on our web site –
http://www.fishpublishing.com/editorial-consultancy-service.php

Fish Short Story Prize Update

The competition closed on 14 December, and the stories are being read and shortlisted by Fish editors. Thank you to all who entered. This list will be posted on our web site in February, and the final result, as determined by competition judge Colum McCann, will be announced on 17 March 2009.

Clem Cairns

CLOSURE OF THE FISH KNIFE, SHORT HISTORIES, AND CRIMINALLY-SHORT SHORT HISTORIES PRIZES.

It is with regret that Fish has come to the decision to close these three copmpetitions. If you had a story in any of them, and for some reason have not received an email from Fish, please email us now at info@fishpublishing.com

All who entered are guaranteed entry into the Fish Short Story Prize with their short story, or into the Fish One Page Prize if they entered the Criminally-Short Short Histories Prize, or they can have their entry fee refunded.

I would like to apologize for any inconvenience and dissapointment that this causes.

Clem Cairns. (See personal note below).

Dear Writers.

After a two year absence from Fish, during which time I was developing the West Cork Literary Festival, it is a pleasure to return to the company that myself and Jula Walton started in 1994, and ran until 2006. I would like to thank Jock Howson for his stewardship over the past two years. Jock has moved on to other things, but remains as a consultant to Fish on the On-Line Entry Fish web site, which he instigated and steered through its design and construction when he joined Fish six years ago.

I am looking forward to further developing the Fish Short Story Prize and the Fish One Page Prizes, and the annual Fish Anthology of winning stories, and of making the winning writers involvement in them more worthwhile and rewarding.

Clem Cairns

THE WINNERS OF
THE 3rd FISH INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE
ARE:

WINNER:

THE STOLEN SHEELA NI GIG or AGHAGOWER SPEAKS

JEAN O'BRIEN - PORTARLINGTON, IRELAND

RUNNERS-UP:

DECEASED EFFECTS - SALLY ANNE ADAMS, BURY ST. EDMUNDS, ENGLAND

IN THE MIDST OF LIFE .. - MARY ANNE PERKINS, RICHMOND, ENGLAND

THE DAVID, OUR DAVID - SUSAN KEITH, EUGENE, OREGON, USA

OLD TOWN MAZATLAN - LAURENCE O'DWYER, TIPPERARY, IRELAND

NORTH LAKE - LELAND JAMES, FLORIDA, USA

THE WINNERS OF
THE FISH ONE-PAGE PRIZE 2008
ARE:

WINNER:

WE WILL GO ON AHEAD AND WAIT FOR YOU

MICHAEL LOGAN - GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

MY NAME IS FOR MY FRIENDS - KEVEN SCHNADIG, NEW YORK, USA

THE BASKET - NICK HODGKINSON, BRISTOL, ENGLAND

MILK RUN - BRUCE STIRLING, CONNECTICUT, USA

THE BUSTERS - FIONA RITCHIE WALKER, BLAYDON, ENGLAND

THE THEME FROM (LOVE STORY) - KURT ACKERMANN, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

BLEAR - ALAN MURPHY, DUBLIN, IRELAND

The Short Lists for the Fish One-Page Prize and the Third Fish International Poetry competition have now been announced.

For the Fish One-Page Prize 2008:

Ancestors - A Snake Awakes - Back There - Big Sister - Blear

Bloom Where You're Planted - Case History - House Gone Blind

Milk Run - My Name Is For My Friends - 100 Year Old Man

Origami - Red Tin of Tobacco - Tasting Pansies - The Basket

The Busters - The Meddler- They Say That belgium is a Nice country

(The Theme From) Love Story - Things About Comin' My Way - Tiptoes Revenge

Visiting Time - We Will Go on Ahead and Wait For You - What Happened Off Ecuador

For the Third Fish International Poetry Prize:

A ghazal is not a gazelle, it's a ghuzzle - A Land of Plenty - An Unequal Dialogue

As luck would have it - Banquet in the Hall of Happiness - Bread

Brief history of politics - Deceased Effects - First words - For her it is me

Instinct - Intelligent Design - In the midst of life . . .

Lies Beneath - Mahon Falls - Même Wars - Nipper, Buck And Me

North Lake - Old Town Mazatlan - On A Beach In Dublin - Roman Road

Safari - Seasons - Son Of The Soil - Straws and Camels - Swan Song

The Art of Becoming You - The Black Rose Turns To Red

The box of beautiful children - The David, Our David - The Good Word

The Stolen Sheela Ni Gig or Aghagower Speaks

The Long List for the Fish One-Page Prize is:

100 YEAR OLD MAN - 6´4"- ALL ARMS & LEGS - A BIT ON THE SIDE
A SNAKE AWAKES - BACK THERE - BIG SISTER - BLEAR
BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED - BLUE CHEESE - BOUCHIER AND CO
COMFORT FOOD - DARREN AND SAMANTHA - DINNER
EXODUS, RWANDA 1994 - FOOTBALL IN CROATIA - FORTY YEARS
FUTILITY - GETTING HOME - GONE DARK FOR A BIT - GREEN - GRIEF
HOUSE GONE BLIND - IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE - JANE DOE
LAST B'DAY - (THE THEME FROM) LOVE STORY - LOVE YOU FOREVER!
MARS AND VENUS - MESSAGES - MILK RUN - MY NAME IS FOR MY FRIENDS
NATURALLY, FLOTSAM - OLD BOB - ONCE IN VENICE - ORIGAMI
PASSING SHIPS - PIGEON LOVE - RED TIN OF TABACCO
REVOLUTION IS NOT A TEA PARTY - SOME THINGS ARE BETTER LEFT UNSAID
SOUNDSCAPE - STEALING MOMENTS - STELLA BY STARLIGHT
STUCK THROUGH THE BONES WITH LOVE - SUSPECT
THE BASKET - THE BUSTERS - THE CHAIR - THE EYES HAVE IT
THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING COM - THE MEDDLER
THE UNRECOGNISED CONTRIBUTION OF THE JACK RUSSELL TERRIER
THINGS ABOUT COMIN' MY WAY - THIS ONE DAY . . . IN ART CLASS
THREE-MINUTE CHILD - THEY SAY THAT BELGIUM IS A NICE COUNTRY
TIPTOES REVENGE - TOFU, NOT BONES - TWO BREATHS OF GREEN
VISITING TIME - WATERPROOF, LIGHTWEIGHT, GOOD IN SNOW
WE WILL GO ON AHEAD AND WAIT FOR YOU
WHAT HAPPENED OFF ECUADOR - WHEN SHE SPEAKS - YELLOW FEATHERS

Winners will be announced on the 30th of April

THE WINNERS OF
THE FISH SHORT STORY PRIZE 2007
ARE:

WINNER:
HARLEM RIVER BLUES - JULIA van MIDDLESWORTH, NEW JERSEY, USA

SECOND:

IN BETWEEN - JUSTINE MANN, LONDON, ENGLAND

THIRD:

SCHOTTISCHE - JOHN BOLLAND, ABERDEENSHIRE, SCOTLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

ALL STATIONS TO EPPING - KELLY O'REILLY, LONDON, ENGLAND

LIFE AND LETTERS - PAUL BROWNSEY, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

SOON YOU WON'T SEE ME - WES LEE, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

THE HEN PARTY - JANIS FREEGARD, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

THE JOB OF SEX - SARAH DUNNAKEY - WEST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND

THE POINT OF IMPACT- GARY MALONE, NSW, AUSTRALIA

SHORT-LIST - The Fish Short Story Prize 2007

Here, in approximate alphabetical order, are the qualifying stories for the 2007 Fish Short Story Prize short-list.

A Soldier of the Woods

All Stations To Epping

Babies' Breath

Brown Bird: Yellow Tree

Central Park

Cowboy Williams Dances

Crossover

Enki And The Smart Bomb

Fish Tale

Harlem River Blues

Hurrying Handbags to Kyleakin

In Between

Jacob's Ladder

Life And Letters

Scottische

Soon You Won't See Me

Stalking Sophie

Staying Power

The Burning

The Dyan's Daughter

The Hen Party

The Job of Sex

The Parcel

The Point of Impact

The Second America

This Moment Between Things

Wheat

. . . Words From a Glass Bubble

Vanessa Gebbie, runner-up in the Fish Short Story Prize 2006 has just had her new collections of short stories "Words From a Glass Bubble" published by Salt Publishing.

"Ruth Padel, in her latest book, described some poems as having "a taut cat's cradle of sonic echoing". Some stories here create a similar cat's cradle of concepts...Enough good pieces in enough styles for the book to be used as an anthology demonstrating how stories should be written nowadays". (Tim Love, on Tim Love's Literary References)

A small sample of Vanessa's writing is available to read in our Short Stories to Read on Line area and you can buy her book from Salt Publishing or Buy it now from Amazon.co.uk.

Vanessa has agreed to judge this year's Fish One-Page Prize and will be at this year's West Cork Literary Festival to present the prizes and to run a very, very short story competition of her own.

LONG-LIST - The Fish Short Story Prize 2007

Here, in approximate alphabetical order, are the qualifying stories for the 2007 Fish Short Story Prize long-list. Winners will be announced on 17th March 2008.

The Long-listed Stories are:

1959

A Clouded Yellow Year - A Cambodian Symphony: Four Movements and a Second Wind

A Lunar Number - A Matter of Control - A Soldier of the Woods

A Thousand Needles - A Wednesday Evening - Accidents Happen

All Stations to Epping - All The Roads That Lead From Home

An Accidental life - As the Buddha Lies

Babies' Breath - Bandstand in the Rain - Blind Drunk

Between Wave Crash and Silence - Brainsex and the Masculinists

Brown Bird: Yellow Tree - Brahman Black Eyes

By the River's Edge - Brim is Gorgeous

Can You Do A Dublin Accent? - ccggaagffeeddc - Central Park - Charnel Relations

Cold Turkey - Cotton - Counting - Cowboy Williams Dances - Crossover

Daddy - Day of Reckoning - Diminished - Dumb Noise - Dyads

Enki and the Smart Bomb

Falsely Accused - Fields of Gold - Finding Treasure - Fish Tale

For Love of The Pierre Bonnard - Foul play

Go Back, Gorgeous - God's Breath

Harlem River Blues - How To Stay Lost - Howling of a Dog

Hurrying Handbags to Kyleakin

In between - Istiraha Café

Jacob's Ladder

Life and Letters - Losing it

Meat - Melton: the place to be... - Mrs Success - Her First Attempt

New Shoes - Nietzsche and the Cleaning Lady

Old Dog Barking - One of Those Days - Out of Season

Patricia Doheney - Port Fairy

Quitting

Regrette Rien

Sadie's View - Scottische (To the tune of A Trip to Sligo )

Serafina - Shakespeare's Garden - Someone New to Care For

Soon You Won't See Me - Stalking Sophie - Staying Power

Stein(ed) Rose - Stella - Spread the word

The Badly Madly Lodger - The Beach in the Garden - The Blackmail Letter

The Cellist's Hands, The Barmaid's Shoes - The Cat Meat Man

The Chip-Shop Girls - The Day of the Bear - The Emperor's New Underwear

The Errand - The Expatriate - The Fishwife - The Front Seat Passenger

The Gift - The Hanging Basket - The Hen Party - The Intruder - The Job of Sex

The Never Fair - The Parcel - The Preservation Society - The Point of Impact

The Recycler - The Rumourmonger - The Samurai's Cry - The Second America

The Silver Stopper - The Shadow - The Traffic Tuner - The True History of Paul Bunyan

They Know I Am Beneath Them - Things That Make Me Sweat

This Moment Between Things - This is Where I Leave My Heart

Together Forever - Town Car

Vostock VI

Wake - Wailing - Walking Backwards - Wheat

Wingbeat - Words From The East End , July, 1903

Keith Souter, 2006 winner of the Fish Historical Short Fiction Prize has just had his latest novel published by Robert Hale.

Read a recent interview with Keith (One of our judges for the 2007 Summer Competitions!) and "The Pardoner's Crime" a historical crime novel set around the beautiful Sandal Castle.

Congratulations to Keith from everyone here at Fish Publishing.

THE WINNERS OF
THE FISH-KNIFE AWARDS 2007
ARE:

WINNER:

THE DYAN'S DAUGHTER- LINDA EVANS, HIGH WYCOMBE, ENGLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

TO BE AN ANGEL - DOUGLAS BRUTON, WEST LINTON, SCOTLAND

BABIES' BREATH - KATHY COOGAN, CINCINNATI, OHIO

WHO PICKED KRIVOKAPIC'S BRAIN? - ANDREW GEDDES, SIDCUP, ENGLAND

ANYTHING FOR YOU - SOPHIE LITTLEFIELD, DANVILLE, CALIFORNIA

WHITE CRAYONS - GORDON HOPKINS, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

THE WINNERS OF
THE SHORT HISTORIES AWARDS 2007
ARE:

WINNER:

THE BURNING - CLARE GIRVAN, EXETER, ENGLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

TAKING THE KING'S SHILLING - MIN LEE, GERS, FRANCE

THE TRUE HISTORY OF BONA LOMBARDA - VAL WATERHOUSE, SONDRIO, ITALY

THE SILVER STOPPER - SARAH LINE LETELLIER, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

THE SONS OF CAIN - PATRICK HOLLAND, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

TYMES OF MONSTERS - LYNDA McDONALD, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

THE WINNERS OF THE
CRIMINALLY-SHORT SHORT HISTORIES AWARDS 2007
ARE:

HISTORY WINNER:

KILMAINHAM DAWN - MICHELE McGRATH, ISLE OF MAN

JOINT CRIME WINNERS:

WOMAN WANT - BRUCE STIRLING, CONNICTICUT

MIDNIGHT MARK - RAY SPARVELL, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

HISTORICAL-CRIME WINNER

FALL RIVER, AUGUST 1892 - SARAH HILARY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

RUNNERS UP:

TRAIN OF THOUGHT - ELIZABETH KUZARA, WYOMING

THE BENEFITS OF ARSENIC - NIAMH RUSSELL, Co. WICKLOW

THE EYAM STONES - SARAH HILARY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

THE SANDMEN OF SYRACUSE - STUART DELVES, EDINBURGH

As usual the crime stories have split our judges so, as with last years Fish-Knife Award, we have joint winners of the Crime section of the Criminally-Short Short Histories Award. Each winner in this section will receive 250 Euro in prize money and 10 copies of the Fish Anthology 2008. Our other winners will receive 500 Euro each plus the anthologies, and the runners-up will each receive 100 euro and 5 copies of the Anthology. All these winning stories will appear in the 2008 Anthology and all of the winners will be invited to read their stories at the Book Launch and Awards Ceremony in July of 2008.

Congratulations to all the winners and runner's-up, and especially to Sarah Mellor who won the Historical-Crime section and also was runner-up in the Historical section, and so will have two stories in the Fish Anthology 2008.

Winning Fish Author CARYS DAVIES has her first short-story collection published!

The Short-lists for the Fish Summer Competitions have now been announced.

They are:-

For The Fish-Knife Award:

Anything for You
Babies' Breath

Breaking it

Liar, Liar
Magic Beans

Salem Witch Hunt now on the Internet

The Death of the Aardvark

The Dyan's Daughter
The Last Campaign

The Madness of History

To Be An Angel
White Crayons
Who Picked Krivokapic's Brain? *

For Short Histories III:

A Fallen Man

A Fallen Soldier

Fortune and Men's Eyes

How Arif Learned to Hear

Succubus

Taking The King's Shilling

The Burning

The Silver Stopper

The Sons of Cain
The True History of Nona Lombarda
Tymes of Monsters

Viseons of the Apocalypse

For the Criminally-Short Short Histories Award: **

Two Marquises

Morning Hate

Train of Thought

Last Will

The Nurse

Bobo's Hobby.

The Sandmen of Syracuse

Radio Day

Picasso and Fernande

A Stubborn Flaw

The ten unfortunate incidents in Egypt

No Butts

Eviva Il Coltello

The Benefits of Arsenic

Things About Comin' My Way

Historical Research is Easy on the Internet

Long Nap By The Pool

Kilmainham Dawn

Time Crime

Midnight Mark

The Death of Fetterman

The Long And The Short Of It

Woman Want

Old School Ties

The Eyam Stones

Fall River , August 1892

Accessory

* Who Picked Krivokapic's Brain? was originally long-listed under the Short Histories Listings, because it was submitted there accidentally.

** The Short list and the Long list for the Criminally Short Short Histories Award are the same because we felt all of the finalists were good enough to go for final consideration.

The ultimate winners of this summer's very short fiction competitions have now been announced.

The final winners were decided by the votes of many hundreds of Fish Authors and the, in the poetry section in particular, the competition was very close, but the final winners were:

Don't Just Lie There .........................The Offering

Andrew Irvine - London, England ............G.S. Westfield - Florida, USA

The long-lists for the Fish Summer Competitions have also just been released. The stories under review, listed by title only to retain anonymity, are:

For The Fish-Knife Award:

Magic Beans

The Last Campaign

Babies' Breath

White Crayons

The Dyan's Daughter

liar, Liar

To Be An Angel

The Heart of the Matter

Untethered

Breaking It

High Tariff

Sonata

Nikita's Revenge

The Death of the Aardvark

ANYTHING FOR YOU

Foul play

....to Roost.

Mr Butterfill's Misdemeanours

Salem Witch Hunts now on the Internet

The Madness of History

The Mermaid's Song

THE CAILLEACH

An Opportunity Seized

Anniversary Cruise

Hidden Among Leaves

For Short Histories III

Who Picked Krivokapic's Brain?

Caught

The True History of Bona Lombarda: A 15th Century Woman of Arms

Recognition

Fortune and Men's Eyes

A Fallen Man

Succubus

The Picture of his Mother

The Preferable Pedro

Viseons of the Apocalypse

How Arif Learned to Hear

Mare Nostrum

Memento Maori

A Fallen Soldier

Rocket Science

The Pearl

Tymes of Monsters

Wakes Week

The Silver Stopper

The Sons of Cain

Taking the King's Shilling

To The End of the Night

Boucher's Girl

Drinking Vodka in the Afternoon

The Burning Com

Straight from the Mouth of Harry J Flint

The Passing

For The Criminally-Short Short Histories Award:

Two Marquises

Morning Hate

Train of Thought

Last Will

The Nurse

Bobo's Hobby.

The Sandmen of Syracuse

Radio Day

Picasso and Fernande

A Stubborn Flaw

The ten unfortunate incidents in Egypt

No Butts

Eviva Il Coltello

The Benefits of Arsenic

Things About Comin' My Way

Historical Research is Easy on the Internet

Long Nap By The Pool

Kilmainham Dawn

Time Crime

Midnight Mark

The Death of Fetterman

The Long And The Short Of It

Woman Want

Old School Ties

The Eyam Stones

Fall River , August 1892

Accessory

We have been delayed by a significant computer progam, so our apologies to everyone out there aho are still on tenter-hooks. We will get the final short lists out as soon aspossible and we still hope to announce the winners at the end of November

The Fish Anthology 2007 was launched in the Maritime Hotel, Bantry on Friday 13th July 2007. Their were well over two hundred guests, and Authors arrived from all over the world to read from their winning stories and poems and to accept their prizes. The prizes were awarded by two of the judges, Clem Cairns and Michael Collins, and the evening was hosted by Jock Howson, Editor of the Fish Anthology, "A Paper heart Is Beating A Paper Boat Sets Sail." You can buy the Anthology now from the
Fish On-Line Bookshop.

The wiiner of the Fish Art-Work Prize 2007 was

William Ferrante, Paper Boats on Paper

Reading, England

The Runners-up are:

Sandra Gorter - Coming Round the Bottom End
Aukland, New Zealand

J.J. Ferguson- Heart Beat

Glasgow, Scotland

Nancy Bohm - I Drag My Boat Across The Ocean
Denver, Colorado, USA

Rebecca Remme - Dreamboat

Collingwood, Ontario, Canada

John Donaldson - A Distant Tide

Perth, Scotland

The WINNER of the
Second Fish International Poetry Prize
is:

TIM LENTON - WITH HIS POEM
The Island Grows On Me

Norwich, England

Tim Lenton was born in 1945, is married with an adult son and two grandchildren. He has lived in Coventry and London and in the Norfolk countryside, but is now back in the centre of Norwich, the city where he was born.

"Although I've written poetry off and on most of my life, I've only really been concentrating on it for the last four years, after taking early retirement from my job as a journalist on the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich, for whom I still write a fortnightly semi-humorous commentary page." www.back2sq1.co.uk

"I am a member of InPrint, a visual arts and poetry collaborative group based in Norwich and its members have been a big inspiration to me. www.inprintartsandpoetry.co.uk This particular poem was sparked by a recent holiday with friends on the island of Captiva , Florida . As well as writing, I get a kick out of chess and hill-walking (not easy in Norfolk ). Among my favourite poets are: W.B.Yeats, Dylan Thomas, Leonard Cohen, and Gerard Manley Hopkins"

The Runners-up are:

Nancy Burke - Philosophy
Evanston, Illinois, USA

Debra Shulkes - Where
Prague, Czech Republic

Allan Wyer - On the Concourse
Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, USA

Susan Keith - A Festive Holiday Photo

Eugene, Oregon, USA

The WINNER of the
Fish One-Page Prize 2007 is:

PATRICIA MIDDLETON - WITH HER VERY SHORT STORY
SKATERS

Saint Mathieu, France

Patricia was born and educated in north Yorkshire and read English at Leicester University. Then she worked as a teacher and librarian in Essex and Devon.

She has three grown-up children and has lived in France for four years with her tame artist husband and four semi-feral cats who are no use as paper-weights.

Paricia has written short stories, poetry, radio and stage plays, but so far no novels. Her favourite book is 'Madame Bovary', and her heroes are Nelson Mandela and Freddie Flintoff.

The Runners-up are:

Claire Anderson-Wheeler - Body Beautiful
Dublin, Ireland

Vicky Grut - Two Brothers
London, England

Richard Holeton - Calling Fruits and Vegetables
Montara, California, USA

Julie Koh - HELENA J. GINSBURG (1980-2007)

Concord West, NSW, Australia

Antonia Fenton - Always Read The Label

Crawley, West Sussex, England

The WINNER of the
Fish Short Story Prize 2006/7 is:

KATHLEEN MURRAY WITH HER STORY
A Paper Heart Is Beating, A Paper Boat Sets Sail

Dublin, Ireland

From Carlow originally, Kathleen traveled for a while around Asia, Canada and the US, but has now lived in Dublin for a good number of years. She graduated with a Psychology Degree and a Masters in Women's Studies from Trinity College, and works as an independent social researcher. In the autumn of 2004 she attended a creative writing course with Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and only through this did she start to write short stories.

"A few of my stories have written themselves and some I have to put a lot more work into. A Paper Heart Is Beating, A Paper Boat Sets Sail arrived as an end, and then a beginning, and I had to put most effort into filling up what happened in between. I am a great reader- novels, short stories, comics, poetry, anything, and I think good writing gave me the inclination to attempt to write. I am delighted and astounded to win The Fish Short Story Prize at only my second attempt. I was long-listed last year and I was very shook and completely thrilled when I came to believe that I had actually won this time. ( I thought it was a nasty E-mail trick! ) I feel that it is the story itself that has won though, not me, and I am pleased most of all for the story itself!"

Runner-Up*

Lane Ashfeldt with her story
Dancing on Canvey

* Lane's story was entered into the Fish Short Story Prize as the winner of Short Histories II. (See Below.) The Judges awarded her Second place in the 2006 Fish Short Story Prize. Unfortunately the rules state that you can only win one prize, so Lane has decided to accept the Short Histories Award, and her story will be published in the Fish Anthology 2007 as the winner of Short Histories II

Second Place Prize Winner

Vanessa Gebbie with her story
Words From a Glass Bubble

East Sussex, England

Vanessa was the result of a series of small collisions between a travelling salesman called Eric and a student nurse. She was given away at birth, brought up by a wonderful Welsh family and spent her child -hood in Wales and the West Country. She now lives in East Sussex and has been writing fiction for four years. She writes to try to make sense of life's ups and downs. [More]

Vanessa teaches Creative Writing, and particularly enjoys working with those on society's margins. She has her own magazine for writing by those whose lives have been touched by addiction, at www.tomsvoicemagazine.com .

Her first novel is gestating. For further information: www.vanessagebbie.com

Third Place Prize Winner

Merryn Glover with her story
Rush of Water

Kingussie, Scotland

Born in Kathmandu, Merryn grew up in Nepal, India and Pakistan. After a teaching degree in Australia (the country of her passport), she moved to Scotland in 1993 and worked freelance as a drama/dance artist and teacher. She and her husband later returned to Nepal where Merryn taught English at an international school and started writing in earnest. Back in Scotland since 2001, Merryn's writing time is now squeezed in and around the lives of two young sons.

Her first major work was the play The Long Way Home, staged in '97 and broadcast on Radio Scotland the following year. She has published several articles and short stories and is working on a novel.

In 2004 she was awarded a Scottish Arts Council New Writer's Bursary for a series of stories set in Nepal. Rush of Water is one of that series.

The Runners-up are:

Stuart Tallack* - The Nucker Hole
West Sussex, England

Wayne Price- Everywhere Was Water Once
Aberdeen, Scotland

Janey Runci - The Caravan
Maldon, Victoria, Australia

Jo Cannon - Insignificant Gestures
Chesterfield, England

Lily Mabura - Man in Ultramarine Pajamas
Columbia, Missouri, USA

Paul Byall - Rookie of the Year
Savannah, Georgia, USA

* Stuart Tallak also features as a runner-up in Short Histories II

All these stories will be published as part of this year's bumper edition of the Fish Anthology, along with the winners of Short Histories II, the Historical One-Page Prize, and The Fish-Knife Award

Short list and Long-list for the Fish Short story Prize 2006

You can order your copy of the Fish Anthology 2007 NOW! For delivery in July. Simply call into the FISH SHOP

SHORT-LIST - The Second Fish International Poetry Prize

Here, in approximate alphabetical order, are the qualifying poems for the Second Fish International Poetry Prize short-list. Winners was announced early 10th May 2007,

The Gift of Flight - M. Lee Alexander

You're Not From Here, Are You? - Graham Allen

Philosophy - Nancy Burke

Thunder - Nancy Burke

Beyond Worth - Laura Chan

Listening to Death - Emer Fallon

A Life - Aideen Foley

Executrix - Eilis Foran

Changing Cadence - Sheila Hanrahan

The Gods Must Be Crazy - Luisa Igloria

The Labour of Sympathy - Ruth Johnson

A Festive Holiday Photo - Susan Keith

The Island Grows On Me - Tim Lenton

Lakin Street Thrift Shop - Tony Luebbermann

Greetings from the Funny Farm - Alan McMonagle

November Day Trip - Helena Nolan

A Bite Out of the Moon - Nancy Norton

Lost Crickets - Paul Ó Colmáin

St. Michaels - Karen O'Connor

New York Winter - Patricia Mansfield Phelan

New Moon - Treekisser Random

Travel Scrabble - Catherine Roantree

Flying with Fins - Marlin Santoso

Where - Debra Shulkes

Girls with Sideburns - Victor Tapner

The Ambassador and His Wife Take Afternoon Tea at the Orient Hotel - Victor Tapner

Flannery O'Connor - Billie Travalini

First Born - Eithne Walsh

On The Concourse - Al Lee Wyre

SHORT-LIST - The Fish One-Page Prize 2007

Here, in approximate alphabetical order, are the qualifying stories for the 2007 Fish One-page Prize short-list. Winners will be announced on 1st May 2007, when the full short list of Author's will be published.

Claire Anderson-Wheeler - Body Beautiful

Val Banister - STARS

Michele Boylan - Furlough

David Cox - Blobs

Kevin Crespo - Last

Liz Davey - The Beginning of the End

David Frankel -The Hatchling

Vicky Grut - Two brothers

Helene Heaney - Losing My Religion

Julie Henson - Turban Wallah

Richard Holeton - Calling Fruits and Vegetables

Kellie Jackson - In Her Pocket

Julie Koh - HELENA J. GINSBURG (1980-2007)

Maria Lane - St Ant'ny's Runt

Tracy Lee - Staying Alive

Devin Liddell - Bureau of Dominions

Valya Dudycz Lupescu - "We Go to Gain a Little Patch of Ground"

Virginia Matthews - All Expenses Paid

Patricia Middleton - SKATERS

Bernadette Owens - The Afterclap

Jane Paterson - Always Read the Label

Cynthia Reeves - The Uneaten Pear

Katherine Reynolds - Rainy Sunday

Marlin Santoso - On Air

Wendy Storer - Too much too little too late

Anne Stubbings - A milky instant

Yvonne Eve Walus - The Upgrade

Christie Watson - Starfish

LONG-LIST - The Second Fish International Poetry Prize

Here, in approximate alphabetical order, are the qualifying authors for the 2007 Fish International Poetry Prize long-list. Winners will be announced on 1st May 2007.

Diana Adams - M. Lee Alexander - Graham Allen - Alba Barrie - Nancy Burke

Anne Calton - Laura Chao - Marie Coveney - Andrew Clarke - Davina Curoopen

Emer Fallon - Michael Farry - Aideen Foley - Eilis Foran - Peter Gesovic

Sheila Hanrahan - Luisa Igloria - Ruth Johnson - Susan Keith

Brendan Carey Kinane - Maria Lane - Tim Lenton - Tony Luebbermann

Gita Mammen - Alan McMonagle - Erin Murphy - Helena Nolan - Nancy Norton

Paul Ó Colmáin - Karen O'Connor - Anne O'Malley - Pat O'Shea

Patricia Mansfield Phelan - Tim Quinlan -Treekisser Random - Janice Rebibo

Catherine Roantree - Marlin Santoso - Debra Shulkes - Victor Tapner

Billie Travalini - Eithne Walsh - Laura Williamson -Allan Wyer

LONG-LIST - The Fish One-Page Prize 2007

Here, in approximate alphabetical order, are the qualifying authors for the 2007 Fish One-page Prize long-list. Winners will be announced on 1st May 2007.

Claire Anderson-Wheeler - Val Bannister - Jackie Blake - Chris Boothby

Michele Boylan - Becky Bradford - Maire Cooney - Kay Cotton - David Cox

Kevin Crespo - Dave Curtain - Mark Dalligan - Liz Davey - Mary Dewhirst

Alan Falkingham - Julie Farnworth - David Frankel - Vicky Grut

Fernanda Habermann - Sheila Hanrahan - Helene Heaney - George Hebden

Julie Henson - Richard Holeton - Clare Hunter - Kellie Jackson

Glenn Erik Johannessen - Vic Joyce - Julie Koh - Maria Lane - Tracy Lee

Wes Lee - Devin Liddell - Annie Lindberg - Amaali Lokuge

Valya Dudycz Lupescu - Virginia Matthews - Maria McAteer

Patricia Middleton - Richard Molloy - Christine O'Neill - Bernadette Owens

Jane Paterson - Gina Perry - John Piggott - Ruby Radburn - Cynthia Reeves

Dan Reilly - Katherine Reynolds - Mark Rickman - Rosemarie Rose

Nollaig Rowan - Marlin Santoso - Wendy Storer - Anne Stubbings

Mark Sutz - Eleanor Taylor - Fiona Thackeray - Eve Thomson - Kate Tough

Yvonne Eve Walus - Sarah Ward - Christie Watson - Alan Wilson

Winners of the Fish-Knife Award 2006

For the first time Fish are announcing JOINT WINNERS of one of our writing awards. The judges were unable to decide between two great stories so the joint winners of the inaugural FISH-KNIFE AWARD are:

EWAN GAULT and ORLAITH O'SULLIVAN

Orlaith O'Sullivan - Gilt

Madeira, Portugal

Sunset from Orlaith's house on Madeira This year Orlaith sold up and moved from Devon to Madeira to give herself time and space to write fiction. Before that, she completed a Ph.D. at TCD, lectured in English literature, and curated a private book collection in Michigan. She has worked on Wall Street and for Devon County Council. She is the author of academic articles, and editor of several British Library publications. ´Gilt´will be her first piece of fiction published. She was born in Dublin to Cork parents.

In addition to short stories, she is working on a trilogy of novels and a screenplay. The abundance of local wine is not helping matters.

Ewan Gault - Honeysuckle and Cat's Piss

Tokyo, Japan

Ewan was born in Kuwait in 1981, grew up in lots of different places but mainly Scotland and graduated from Glasgow University`s creative writing masters course with a distinction this summer. The story, Honeysuckle and Cats Piss is one of the chapters of his recently completed novel The Fine Young Blades, which he is hoping to find a publisher for. Other chapters have been published as runner up prize in last years Scotsman/Orange short story competition and in an anthology of Scottish writing called Outside of a Dog.

The Runners-up are:

Linda Evans - Normal service will be resumed shortly
Buckinghamshire, England

Polly Nelson - Air Cowboys
New Jersey, USA

Martin Bott - Luz
Zurich, Switxerland

Marc Phillips* - Caye Caulker Tides
Texas, USA

( *Winner - The Fish Short Story Prize 2005)

These stories will be published as part of this year's bumper edition of the Fish Anthology, along with the winners of Short Histories II, and the Historical One-Page Prize.

The Fish-Knife Award prize will be split evenly between Ewan and Orlaith each receiving €800 and 10 copies of the Anthology, together with an engraved Silver Fish Knife each.

The runners-up receive €100 each and will also be published in the Anthology.

Winners of the Historical Short Fiction Prize 2006

The overall winner of this year's Historical One-Page Prize is:

Keith Souter with his very-short story "The Villain's Tale"

Keith Souter was born in St Andrews, Scotland and educated at Dundee University. He is a part time general practitioner, newspaper columnist, medical author and novelist (under two pen-names).

He has lived and worked in Wakefield for twenty-seven years, within arrow-shot of Sandal Castle, hence his interest in matters historical.

He is married to Rachel and they have three grown up children and a granddaughter.

The Runners-up are:

Jessie J. Ellis - Knoxville 1899
Michigan, USA

Kimball Ann Richards - The Morning We Started To Leave
Vancouver, Canada

Rosemarie Rose - Shapes
Cwmbran, South Wales

Zoe Sinclair - That Sweet May Morning
Kent, England

These stories will be published as part of this year's bumper edition of the Fish Anthology, along with the winners of Short Histories II, and the inaugural Fish-Knife Award.

Keith receives the winners prize of €1,000 and 10 copies of the Anthology. The runners-up receive €100 each and will also be published in the Anthology.

Winners of Short Histories II

The overall winner of this year's Short Histories II competition is:

Lane Ashfeldt with her story "Dancing on Canvey"

Lane Ashfeldt was born in London to Irish parents, and grew up in Dublin. She has travelled widely and currently lives in Holloway, north London. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies, in the online fiction magazine Pulp Net, and in the Irish literary journal Southword.

Another story, 'Off the Map', came second in The Guardian Sci-Talk prize. Lane is currently completing a first novel towards which she was awarded an Arts Council England grant. Her next project will be a collection of short fiction.

The Runners-up are:

Jo Campbell* - A Journey to the Sun
London, England

( *Winner - Short Histories 2005)

Leslie Patterson - The Medical Glance
Colorado, USA

Margaret Mulvihill - A Goose of a Swan
London, England

Carys Davies - Waking the Princess
Lancaster, England

Stuart Tallack - Cerulean
West Sussex, England

These stories will be published as part of this year's bumper edition of the Fish Anthology, along with the winners of the Fish One-Page Prize, and the inaugural Fish-Knife Award.

Lane receives the winners prize of €1,500 and automatically goes forward to the final short list for this year's Fish Short Story Prize. The runners-up receive €100 each and will also be published in the Anthology.

SHORT-LIST - The Fish Short Story Prize 2006

Here, in alphabetical order, are the qualifying stories for the 2006 Fish Short Story Prize short-list.
.

- Jacob M. Appel - Invasive Species

- Lane Ashfeldt - Dancing on Canvey ( Winner of the Short Histories Award 2006)

- David Busis - Pink Elephant

- Paul Byall - Rookie of the Year (Runner-up fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- Jo Cannon - Insignificant Gestures (Runner-up fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- Douglas Danoff - The Trader Thief

- Eleanor Edmond - Messers

- Skye Farrah - Rules for Moving

- Ewan Gault - Honeysuckle and Cat's Piss (Joint Winer of the Fish-Knife Award 2006)

- Vanessie Gebbie - Words from A Glass Bubble (2nd Prize Winner Fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- Merryn Glover - Rush of Water (3rd Prize Winner Fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- Beatrix Jenness - The Beginning, The End, The Beginning

- Malcolm Johnson - Eel Stew

- Elaine Lambert - The Prince of Lisnamore

- Brendan Landers - The Scholarship Class

- Miranda Lewis - Joze's Book

- Lily Mabura - Man in Ultramarine Pajamas (Runner-up fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- Natalie McNabb - Afters

- Kathleen Murray - A Paper Heart is Beating, A Paper Boat Sets Sail
( Winner Fish Short Story Prize 2006 )

- Paul Newman - The Bee Cathcher's Mother

- Orlaith O'Sullivan - Gilt (Joint Winer of the Fish-Knife Award 2006)

- Wayne Price - Everywhere Was Water Once (Runner-up fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- Robyn Rose - Mauritius Tangerine and Onion

- Nollaig Rowan - Absence

- Janey Runci - The Caravan (Runner-up fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- T. Stores - Fisher

- Stuart Tallack - The Nucker Hole (Runner-up fish Short Story Prize 2006)

- Eleanor Thom - Italian Verbs

LONG-LIST - The Fish Short Story Prize 2006

Here, in approximate alphabetical order, are the qualifying authors for the 2006 Fish Short Story Prize long list. (Authors whose name appears twice have two entries on the long-list.)
Winners will be announced on 17th March 2007.

Susan Allen - Jacob M. Appel - Catherine Avery - Barry Baldwin

Malcolm Bish - Gabriela Blandy - David Busis - Paul Byall - Jo Cannon

Jo Cannon - Justin Carroll - Leslie Carter - R.N.Homer Christensen

Joan Christie - Finn Clarke - Terence Clarke - Gordon Collins

Adam Connors - Rosemary Conry - Sandy Critchley - Judy Crozier

Douglas Danoff - Carys Davies - Rianna Dear - Julie De Fina

Christine Donovan - Michael Dugdale - Eleanor Edmond - Grace Edusei

Owen Egerton - James Ellis - Rob Ewing - Rob Ewing - Skye Farrah

Michael J. Farrell - Ray Flanagan - Dave Freda - Merryn Glover

Sara Goff - Owen Goodwyne - C.O. Gorman - Liz Granirer

Pippa Griffin - Jonathan Haylett - Tania Hershman - Phil Jell

Beatrix Jenness - Malcolm Johnson - Maria Kaplun - Mikki Katz

Susi Klare -Elaine Lambert - Brendan Landers - Susan Lanigan

Julia LaSalle - Wes Lee - M. A. Leighton - Miranda Lewis

Lily Mabura -Billy Maddox -Pat Maher - Robin Marsden

Fred McGavran -Toby McGrath -Natalie McNabb

Rosalind Minett - Lucy Moore - Carole Morin -Brian Mullally

Christine Murphy - Kathleen Murray - Polly Nelson - Paul Newman

Anthony O'Keefe - Heather Peace - Elizabeth Pienaar - Joanna Piucci

S.C. Pribil - Wayne Price - Gaby Pritchard - Benedict Quinn

P.M. Rae - Jean Rafferty - LeAnne Ray - Jeffrey Roesgen

Robyn Rose - Leone Ross - Nollaig Rowan - Janey Runci

Ahmad Saidullah - Laura Santina - Mark Scott - Myra Sherman

Bridget Shirley - Jill Siddall - Daniel Smith - Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn

James Stark - Connla Stokes - T.Stores - Stuart Tallack

Travis Taylor - Chris Teear - Eleanor Thom - Polly Tuckett

Christopher Watson - Jane Watson - Sarah Weir - Erin Wilcox

Tobias Williams - Lyn Willmott -Pia Wilson -Yiqing Zhao

"Fish Publishing - what can I say? You are legend. Just keep doing what your doing. You are a model of success for publishing and literary festivals. I certainly wish you increasing fame and am singing your praises over here. Winning the Fish Prize is a validation. I'm one of those writers who is often wracked with self-doubt and definitely need a nod from people whose opinions I respect. The Fish Prize is a big YES stamp. Yes, Katie, keep writing, you can do it. I'm off to start my next story. It has a dog in it and that's all I'm telling you."

- Katie Henderson, from Auckland, NZ, winner of the 2005 Fish Short Story Prize

Alumni Page

We have an Alumni page here on the website. We would like to hear from all the past Fish winners and finalists about what they're up to now. Email us with an update. Visit the Alumni page to see what other winners have been up to.

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Latest up-dates at Fish Publishing

Winners of the 2012 Flash Fiction Prize

Winners of the 2012 Poetry Prize

Winners of the 2012 Short Memoir Prize

Newsletter 25 March 2012

2011/12 FISH SHORT STORY PRIZE RESULTS

Newsletter March 2012

Newsletter Jan 2012

Newsletter Dec 2011

Newsletter Oct 2011

Launch of the 2011 Fish Anthology

Winners Announcement: Fish Poetry and One-Page Prizes 2011

Winner

Second

Third

Honourable Mentions

Winner

Second

Third

Honorable Mentions

Shortlist for the One-Page Prize is announced.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here are the winners of the 2009/10 Fish Short Story Prize as chosen by competition judge, Ronan Bennett:

First

Second

Third

Runners-up (in no particular order).

Shortlist of the 2008 Fish Short Story Prize

THE WINNERS OF THE 3rd FISH INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE ARE:

THE STOLEN SHEELA NI GIG or AGHAGOWER SPEAKS

JEAN O'BRIEN - PORTARLINGTON, IRELAND

THE WINNERS OF THE FISH ONE-PAGE PRIZE 2008 ARE:

WINNER: WE WILL GO ON AHEAD AND WAIT FOR YOU

MICHAEL LOGAN - GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

The Short Lists for the Fish One-Page Prize and the Third Fish International Poetry competition have now been announced.

For the Fish One-Page Prize 2008:

For the Third Fish International Poetry Prize:

The Long List for the Fish One-Page Prize is:

THE WINNERS OF THE FISH SHORT STORY PRIZE 2007 ARE:

WINNER: HARLEM RIVER BLUES - JULIA van MIDDLESWORTH, NEW JERSEY, USA

SECOND:

IN BETWEEN - JUSTINE MANN, LONDON, ENGLAND

THIRD:

SCHOTTISCHE - JOHN BOLLAND, ABERDEENSHIRE, SCOTLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

SHORT-LIST - The Fish Short Story Prize 2007

. . . Words From a Glass Bubble

LONG-LIST - The Fish Short Story Prize 2007

THE WINNERS OF THE FISH-KNIFE AWARDS 2007 ARE:

WINNER: THE DYAN'S DAUGHTER- LINDA EVANS, HIGH WYCOMBE, ENGLAND RUNNERS-UP:

THE WINNERS OF THE SHORT HISTORIES AWARDS 2007 ARE:

WINNER: THE BURNING - CLARE GIRVAN, EXETER, ENGLAND RUNNERS-UP:

THE WINNERS OF THE CRIMINALLY-SHORT SHORT HISTORIES AWARDS 2007 ARE:

HISTORY WINNER:

KILMAINHAM DAWN - MICHELE McGRATH, ISLE OF MAN

JOINT CRIME WINNERS: WOMAN WANT - BRUCE STIRLING, CONNICTICUT

MIDNIGHT MARK - RAY SPARVELL, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

HISTORICAL-CRIME WINNER

FALL RIVER, AUGUST 1892 - SARAH HILARY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

RUNNERS UP:

Winning Fish Author CARYS DAVIES has her first short-story collection published!

The Short-lists for the Fish Summer Competitions have now been announced.

They are:-

For The Fish-Knife Award:

Anything for You Babies' Breath

Breaking it

Liar, Liar Magic Beans

Salem Witch Hunt now on the Internet

The Death of the Aardvark

The Dyan's Daughter The Last Campaign

The Madness of History

To Be An Angel White Crayons Who Picked Krivokapic's Brain? *

For Short Histories III:

A Fallen Man

A Fallen Soldier

Fortune and Men's Eyes

How Arif Learned to Hear

Succubus

THE WINNERS OF
THE 3rd FISH INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE
ARE:

THE WINNERS OF
THE FISH ONE-PAGE PRIZE 2008
ARE:

WINNER:

WE WILL GO ON AHEAD AND WAIT FOR YOU

THE WINNERS OF
THE FISH SHORT STORY PRIZE 2007
ARE:

WINNER:
HARLEM RIVER BLUES - JULIA van MIDDLESWORTH, NEW JERSEY, USA

THE WINNERS OF
THE FISH-KNIFE AWARDS 2007
ARE:

WINNER:

THE DYAN'S DAUGHTER- LINDA EVANS, HIGH WYCOMBE, ENGLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

THE WINNERS OF
THE SHORT HISTORIES AWARDS 2007
ARE:

WINNER:

THE BURNING - CLARE GIRVAN, EXETER, ENGLAND

RUNNERS-UP:

THE WINNERS OF THE
CRIMINALLY-SHORT SHORT HISTORIES AWARDS 2007
ARE:

JOINT CRIME WINNERS:

WOMAN WANT - BRUCE STIRLING, CONNICTICUT

Anything for You
Babies' Breath

Liar, Liar
Magic Beans

The Dyan's Daughter
The Last Campaign

To Be An Angel
White Crayons
Who Picked Krivokapic's Brain? *

The Sons of Cain
The True History of Nona Lombarda
Tymes of Monsters