Judges for the BBC national short story award have announced a shortlist for 2017 that is “enduring, bold, humane and moving”, with work from five acclaimed writers now in line for the £15,000 award. More than 600 stories were submitted, with judges unaware of the authors’ names until they made their selection. Chaired by the novelist Joanna Trollope, three of the judging panel’s choices had made Granta’s list of the 20 most promising writers under 40 in 2013. Trollope’s fellow judge, the Baileys award-winning novelist Eimear McBride, said the shortlist presents “a veritable festival of ideas about identity, the innate and the capacity of both for transformation … or not”. “All five of our shortlisted writers have embraced the freedom that short fiction offers and all their stories sing out, enduring, bold, humane and moving.

Source: The Guardian September 15, 2017 18:45 UTC