Tessa fulfils her £10k story Dream
THE hotly-anticipated winner of the prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize has been announced, with literary giant Tessa Hadley winning the £10,000 prize.
Announced at a special ceremony at Waterstones flagship store, in Piccadilly, London, last month, Tessa, an author of six highly-praised novels, collected her award for Bad Dreams.
In her collection of stories about different people’s lives, the ordinary is made extraordinary as the real things which happen turn out to be mysterious.
“I’m really pleased to have won,” said Tessa. “I love this prize because it’s the only one for a whole collection and takes the form seriously. I’ve been involved with the project for a long while and followed its progress.
“I wholeheartedly support it and it’s especially lovely to have won.”
“There are two ways that this prize is important. One, if you’re any good as a writer, you’re always full of self-doubt, so you need that confirmation from the outsider; and, two, winning the prize means people actually take notice of your work.”
Author Sarah Hall picked up the £1,000 Reader’s Choice Award chosen by a group of 20 Edge Hill University students.
Jennie Byrne, an MA creative writing student who was part of the Reader’s Choice panel, said: “We chose Madame Zero because of its fantastic use of language, the creative content and stunning delivery of modern short story writing. It was a story with the whole package.”
Sarah’s book, Madame Zero, which was named the Guardian’s and Sunday Times Book of the Year last year, brings together human and animal tales which blur the natural and urban and mundane and surreal.
Sarah, who said that she started as a poet, and broke as a novelist but that short stories felt like home, said: “It’s wonderful that it was a unanimous decision by the students,
“It’s a lot of pressure to choose a single story to submit, as you’re never quite sure what will appeal across the board, but it’s great that it was wellreceived.
“The Short Story Prize is a serious commitment by Edge Hill and it’s great to see the short story form strong and thriving.
“Edge Hill has opened up the conversation about short story and then added to the resuscitation of the short fiction form.”
The Edge Hill Short Story Prize was founded in 2006 by Edge Hill University’s Ailsa Cox. It remains the only annual prize that recognises excellence in a published, single-authored collection of short stories in the UK and Ireland.
This year’s shortlist was: Madame Zero, by Sarah Hall; Basket Of Deplorables, by Tom Rachman; Bad Dreams, by Tessa Hadley; All The Beloved Ghosts, by Alison MacLeod and Come Let Us Sing Anyway, by Leone Ross.
One hundred years to the day that women were first able to vote in a general election, third-year Edge Hill musical theatre students will be performing this wonderful new British musical as part of the show’s national premiere.
Having worked with writer Dougal Irvine on the official soundtrack for Angry Birds back in May, it is now their pleasure to bring this powerful piece to vivid life as part of the university’s Wonder Women programme.
To perform this musical within an institution with such strong links to women’s suffrage is a real privilege.
Tickets: £5 / Free for EHU students.
For more information, visit www.edgehill.ac.uk or call 01695 584480. THIRD Year dance students present Dance Ensembles at The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University, on December 14, at 7.30pm.
The show is a double-bill of new choreographic work featuring Year 3 BA dance students. Tickets are free, but booking is required.
For more information, visit www.edgehill.ac.uk or call 01695 584 480.