By its closing date of 7th August, the 2009 Manchester Fiction Prize had attracted more than 1,700 entries (almost four million words) from over 40 countries. Judges Sarah Hall, M. John Harrison and Nicholas Royle were thrilled by the scope and quality of submissions, and say that judging the competition was “exciting and ultimately very rewarding.”
They have short-listed six finalists (details below) and the winners will be announced at a gala prize-giving ceremony at Manchester Town Hall on Friday 23rd October 2009.
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The Manchester Fiction Prize 2009 Short-listed Finalists:
Peter Deadman
Peter Deadman co-founded Infinity Foods – a natural and organic foods business in Brighton – in 1970, opening a restaurant, shop, bakery and warehouse distribution unit. In 1978 he completed training in acupuncture and later in Chinese herbal medicine, practising both until 2001. He is the founder, editor and publisher of The Journal of Chinese Medicine and co-author of the textbook A Manual of Acupuncture. He began writing creatively in 2007 after leaving The Matzos, a klezmer band he played violin with for a number of years. In June 2009 he completed a certificate course in creative writing at the University of Sussex. His story Emile in the Circus won the University of Plymouth’s Short FICTION magazine new writers’ competition in 2009.
Michael E. Halmshaw
Michael E. Halmshaw was born in Leeds in 1985. He teaches English as a Foreign Language in Manchester and is currently writing his first novel.
Vicki Jarrett
Vicki Jarrett has returned to writing fiction after a ten year break. Her work has appeared in several recent anthologies, including Days Like This, published in association with the Scottish Book Trust. Before her break, she was short-listed for the McAllan/Scotland on Sunday Short Story Competition and had her work performed on BBC Radio 4's Storyline. She lives in Edinburgh with her partner and eight year old twins and earns a living writing software manuals. She is currently writing more stories, working on a screenplay and planning her first novel.
Toby Litt
Toby Litt grew up in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. He has worked as a teacher, bookseller and subtitler. A graduate of the Creative Writing M.A. at the University of East Anglia, he is the author of Adventures in Capitalism, Beatniks, Corpsing, deadkidsongs, Exhibitionism, Finding Myself, Ghost Story, I play the drums in a band called okay, Journey into Space and the forthcoming King Death. He is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist. Website: www.tobylitt.com
Jennifer Mills
Jennifer Mills is the author of a novel, The Diamond Anchor, and a chapbook of poems, Treading Earth. She was the winner of the 2008 Marian Eldridge Award for Young Emerging Women Writers, the 2008/9 Commonwealth Short Story Competition (Pacific Region), and the 2008 Northern Territory Literary Awards (Best Short Story). Her work has appeared in Hecate, Overland, Heat, Griffith Review and Best Australian Stories 2007, and she is a regular contributor to New Matilda and Overland. She lives in Alice Springs, Australia. Website: www.jenjen.com.au
Alison Moore
Alison Moore was born in Manchester and grew up in Leicestershire, where she lives with her husband Dan and son Arthur. She works as PA to the Director of Lakeside Arts Centre at the University of Nottingham. Since 2000 her short stories have been published in magazines, including The New Writer, and in competition anthologies, winning prizes in Wales and Northern Ireland and reaching the shortlist for the Fish Prize and the Bridport Prize.
Copies of all six short-listed stories will be posted on the Manchester Writing Competition website: www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/fiction
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