What a wonderful evening we had last night for the prize-giving of the BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University!
It wasn`t a win for me, but I got to go to the ball and had a fabulous time. I loved meeting my fellow shortlisted authors and comparing notes on our writing lives. This year`s winner, Cherise Saywell, has been shortlisted before and her story Ditto is a perfectly crafted, exquisite tale that, like the central character, holds so much in its small frame. Huge congratulations to her and the other writers, Laura Beatty, Lucy Caldwell and Caoilinn Hughes!
I loved arriving at Broadcasting House as the lights of Oxford Street were twinkling on, passing the iconic All Souls Langham Place and watching staff leaving the Beeb with their fold-up bikes, just like in W1A! I didn`t love realising I`d missed the memo about ID and needing to find a photo of my passport on my phone! It was like an airport with bags going through x-ray and people through a scanner. But once on the other side, I loved having husband and good friends there to support me. I didn`t love struggling with a cold, but so were half the other authors and the show presenter, Tom Sutcliffe!
I loved the anthology of the five stories published by Comma Press. The submissions can be up to 8000 words, but are cut to 4000 for the radio broadcast, so they can be quite different, but the authors were agreeing that the producers and actors had all done a terrific job of the recording. But it`s definitely worth getting the print version for the full experience.
I loved being in the Radio Theatre for the live recording of Radio 4`s arts programme, Front Row – sitting with my fellow authors in the front row, no less! I loved hearing the five young writers being interviewed live – all so intelligent, articulate and talented…
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