NZ writer long-listed for the world’s richest story prize

Announcing the longlist for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award

The Sunday Times Published: 1 February 2015

From left: Rebecca F John, Joseph O’Neill, Mark Haddon and Yiyun Li (Ulf Andersen/Jeremy Young/Roger Turesson)

A really intriguing and exciting mix of prizewinning writers from around the world — and unknown voices from the UK — have made it onto the 19-strong longlist for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, the world’s richest prize for a single short story.

The award — now in its sixth year, and worth £30,000 to the winner — has always attracted an impressive list of names. Previous winners and shortlisted writers have included the Pulitzer prizewinners Adam Johnson, Junot Diaz and Elizabeth Strout, the double Man Booker-winner Hilary Mantel, Anthony Doerr, Ali Smith and New Zealand’s CK Stead. 

This year continues that tradition, with the celebrated Chinese-American writer Yiyun Li, the Man Booker-longlisted Joseph O’Neill (author of Netherland), Mark Haddon (back for the second time) and David Peace (author of The Damned Utd) making the cut, alongside the well-known American writers Mona Simpson and Elizabeth McCracken.

They are joined by two young British-based writers still to publish their first books — Julianne Pachico, currently completing her PhD at the University of East Anglia, and Rebecca F John, whose first collection is not due for publication until the autumn. In an innovation for the prize, all 19 stories on the longlist can be read at thesundaytimes.co.uk/books. 

The award’s great track record in discovering and championing new voices (last year’s shortlist included the 27-year-old newcomer Anna Metcalfe) is emphasised again this year by the presence on the list of the young Irish writer Colin Barrett, whose first collection, Young Skins, won last year’s Guardian First Book Award. All the entries making the longlist were read “blind” (without knowledge of the authors’ names) by a judging panel comprising the theatre and film director Sir Richard Eyre, the Orange prize-shortlisted novelist Aminatta Forna, the Turkish novelist and commentator Elif Shafak, the literary critic Alex Clark, and the Sunday Times literary editor, Andrew Holgate. Lord Evans, the founder of the award, is the non-voting chairman.

Another real strength of The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award is its international flavour. This year is no different, with authors from four continents — and countries as far apart as Canada, Nigeria and New Zealand — featured in the 19.

The shortlist for this year’s award will be announced on March 1, with the winner revealed on April 24 at a gala dinner at the Stationers’ Hall in London. All six shortlisted stories will be available on an ebook, and readers will be able hear them at two readings conducted by celebrated actors at Foyles bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London WC2, on April 22-23 (foyles.co.uk/bookshop-charing-cross). These will be curated by the live short-story specialists WordTheatre (wordtheatre.com).
You can keep up to date with all the news on this year’s award at thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/stefg, or at booktrust.org.uk/sundaytimesEFG. And you can follow the progress of the prize on Twitter at @ShortStoryAward (#stefg).

The 2015 longlist
The Collected Tricks of Houdini by Rotimi Babatunde
The Ways by Colin Barrett
The Indian Uprising by Ann Beattie
Fat White Cop with Ginger Eyebrows by Louise Doughty
Qualities of the Modern Farmer by Emily Franklin
The Pier Falls by Mark Haddon
The Glove Maker’s Numbers by Rebecca F John
A Sheltered Woman by Yiyun Li
Hungry by Elizabeth McCracken
False River by Paula Morris
Interstellar Space by Scott O’Connor
Jules Verne Seeks Dreamers for Long-Distance Travel in Time by Mary O’Donoghue
The Referees by Joseph O’Neill
Lucky by Julianne Pachico
After the War, Before the War by David Peace
Holiday by Mona Simpson
Still Water, BC by Erin Soros
The Spiders of Stockholm by EJ Swift
The Wedding Cake by Madeleine Thien