Results of the 2015 Fish Short Story Prize
The ten stories chosen by judge Kevin Barry will be published in the 2016 Fish Anthology, which will be launched at the West Cork Literary Festival in July ‘16. We would like to thank Kevin for giving his time and expertise, judging the prize. His comments on the winning stories are with each title below.
Congratulations to the ten winners, their stories emerging from a field of 1,400.
The long and short lists will be published within the next day or two on the Fish website.
*The 2016 Fish Short Story Prize is now open for submissions. Judge is Neel Mukherjee. Closing 30 Nov. *
1st (The prize is €3,000, and a creative writing workshop with Claire Keegan at the West Cork Literary Festival).
Frogs; The City by Aengus Murray (Dublin, Ireland)
This is a story that mightn’t be for everyone but it was totally up my street. I was really sucked into its world – I found it utterly convincing. It’s a kind of a fable that leans in towards reality and then quickly pulls back from it again. It’s got a really lovely voice; it’s tone or note is very well got indeed. The story is as funny and sad as its memorable narrator. Like the best stories, its workings are mysterious – you don’t know how it all holds together, but it does.
2nd (The prize is €300 and a week’s residence at Anam Cara Writers Retreat).
When They Kissed They Really Kissed by The Man in the Black Pyjamas (Dublin, Ireland)
A really interesting structure, with some tremendous writing all the way through. There’s a real intensity to it. I’m not sure if the story benefits when its references to The Dead are brought above the surface – I don’t think it needs these to work on its own terms; or maybe they could be left submerged. But this is a quibble against a very, very fine piece of work. A real writer is pulling the strings on this one.
3rd (The prize is €300)
Conceptual by Cait Atherton (UK)
This is very funny, and the voice is so very well done, but then it all builds up to something even funnier, and darker. And it’s very touching, too. It threw me – I should have twigged where it was going but I didn’t, at all. Great stuff.
Runners-up.
Circle City by Robert Grindy (Illinois, USA)
Tremendous comic energy and characterisation. Great on place and the detail seems to be very authentic. Maybe there’s a tendency to tell a little more than show but it’s a terrific story.
Clair de Lune by Susan Bennett (Australia)
The writing wears its finery unashamedly. It’s very sensitive to time, place, mores. It tells a good old-fashioned story.
To Woo by Anthony Dew (York, England)
I really like our odd little narrator friend. The story is funny and strange and it keeps the reader guessing. And I very much like the nutty ending.
Nashville by Judith Turner-Yamamoto (Cincinatti, Ohio, USA)
A very well-made story, and it’s full of real feeling, with a wealth of harsh nostalgia. It captures precisely the moment in a young life when all seems lost but all may yet be there to play for.
Me And Mr Tinkles by Thomas Atkinson (Ohio, USA)
This is a story that builds very powerfully, line by line, and then builds some more. I think it’s conceivably one draft short of where it should be but it has a real effect on the reader, and the ending is tremendous.
Jokes in Lemon Juice by Lezanne Clanachan (West Sussex, UK, via Denmark)
There is some very nice and unexpected detail in this. The story carries real emotion and a kind of strangeness, too, which I found oddly moving.
The Sun And The Moon Were Out by Annette Trevitt (Victoria, Australia)
A tangled web of a story, again with great detail all along the way. It keeps the thumb moving through the pages, and the style is very fine.