The Anthology is FINISHED!

The Glasgow Student Short Story Prize Anthology is now available to read, and it is completely free! Just click on the top left hand side of the BookStreamer book above, to be redirected to a bigger page where you can read the book right now!

Should you wish to purchase a paper copy, please note that this is a 2nd proof and the final confirmed double checked edition is the one I strongly recommend getting, on or around the 20th of August. I will post here and Tweet a confirmation when it is perfect and purchasable! The book will cost £5.15, despite the BookStreamer stating £2.20: it does not add on postage and 'printers costs' until you reach the checkout. Be assured though, the actual profit we are making on this book is, steady yourselves, 1p a copy. This is the smallest amount allowed though the publisher used. Profit is most emphatically not the aim here, accessibility is.

And with that in mind, the stories have all been published simultaneously today in the new look From Glasgow to Saturn. The journal has a bold and lovely new colour scheme for the Prize Winners Edition:


We are just delighted to have the book and online journal issued, and available to read. I really hope you enjoy the book, please do feel free to post me a comment or an email (elisabeth.ingram@gmail.com), and let me know what you think!

It is my hope that the competition could run annually, so do get in touch with any ideas or suggestions about how we could go forward in 2010.

Thank you so much for reading.

Introduction

by Elisabeth Ingram

The Glasgow Student Short Story Prize was founded to support and promote new writing talent across Scotland’s largest city. The prize was free to enter and open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students studying at any University in Glasgow.

I hoped that an accessible prize would encourage students of all subjects to write stories, and am delighted that the prize attracted submissions from all five major universities and academies in Glasgow. Shortlisted stories came from a diverse range of students studying Creative Writing, English Literature, Journalism, History of Art, Forensic Biology, and Law.

The prize had just one rule: a limit of 1000 words. This restriction proves a serious challenge to any writer. Crafting a powerful story in a tight space is one of the most challenging tasks a writer can face. Every word must count, drive forwards, resonate. Each writer on our shortlist wrote with precision and verve. The three winners of the Prize reveal an exceptional talent, creating daring prose that stands out amongst an already impressive group of stories.

Involvement in this prize illustrates the scale of writing talent in Glasgow. I’m happy that each of these authors will have their work published in From Glasgow To Saturn (the online literary journal of Glasgow University), and even happier that we are publishing this book: there’s no bigger a thrill as a writer than seeing your writing in print!

Special thanks are due to A. L. Kennedy, for her generosity and kindness to strangers. Strangers’ kindness has been a heartening and unexpected surprise throughout the Prize. Short story publishers and writers such as Nuala Ní Chonchúir made it possible, by offering substantial prizes and support to new and emerging short story writers.

I must also mention the Dewar Arts Awards, who funded my course and writing this year, allowing me to create the prize and this anthology.

This beautiful book is largely due to the hard work of Cosmo Wallace. Thank you, Cosmo. Thank you also to Rebecca Bradburd and José C. Velazquez, two dedicated co-editors of From Glasgow to Saturn, who read every entry to the prize, and worked with me to compile a fantastic shortlist.

A final thanks must go to every student who entered the prize. I’m proud to have read so many excellent short stories, and I’m confident that whether or not individual entrants won prizes or a place on the shortlist, they will continue to write and to make Glasgow a great place to be a writer.