Tracy Fells was the 2017 Regional Winner (Europe and Canada) for the Commondwealth Short Story Prize. Her short fiction has been widely published in print journals and online, including Granta and Brittle Star. Her debut novella-in-flash Hairy on the Inside published by Ad Hoc Fiction in 2021, was shortlisted for the Saboteur Awards in 2022 and the International Rubery Book Awards. Her shortstory collection The Naming of Moths was published in 2024 by Fly on the Wall Press.Tracy Fells has been a first reader for the Bath Short Story Award for many years, frequently selecting stories from the entries that go to to be shortlisted or to win a prize Continue reading →

Bath is well-known for its literary associations, the most famous being Jane Austen, who spent only a few years in the city and had a conflicted relationship with it. In a letter to her sister Cassandra, Jane wrote of her ‘happy feelings of Escape’ on leaving. That said, Bath is mentioned in all her novels and features most prominently in Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, where the heroine Catherine Morland declares ‘Oh! Who can be ever tired of Bath?’ Certainly not the thousands from all over the world who will gather here this year to attend the balls and events to mark the 250^th anniversary of Jane’s birth. Continue reading →

Our BSSA 2024 Anthology is now for sale from our publisher Ad Hoc Fiction and will be available from Amazon soon.
Eighteen fantastic stories of 2200 words or under. A marvellous variety, showing what can be achieved with the short form.This time, we have a blue/green back ground for the anthology with its strking collage pictur4e of a building in Bath, created by artist and former BSSA winner, Ele Nash. Continue reading →

Sophie Haydock

Our big thanks to Sophie Haydock, award winning novelist and shortstory champion, for judging our Award this year and for her appreciation of the form, her general comments on the shortlisted stories and her individual comments on the winners. What great stories! We are looking forward to publishing all of them, the winners and the shortlisted, in our 2024 anthology.

Sophie’s Report Continue reading →

Huge congratulations to all our BSSA 2024 winners! Such wonderful and varied stories selected from a very strong field in the shortlist. You can read Sophie Haydock’s comments on the winners’ stories and on the shortlist in general in her judge’s report. You can also read the bios of all the shortlist here

Connor Donahue

First Prize: ‘To Hail the Pale Horse Rider’ by Connor Donahue

Connor Donahue is an aspiring novelist currently pursuing his MA in Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from The University of Kansas. In his stories, he enjoys writing about monsters, mucking about in dark waters, and fretting about human capabilities. He has previously been published in Intrepid Times and by The BBC, and his latest project is a novel set in a haunted bible college in his home state of Missouri. He misses the BBQ from his home state but does not miss the tornados. He lives and writes in Belfast.

Jane Fraser

Second Prize: ‘The Glitter Path’ by Jane Fraser

Jane Fraser lives, works and writes fiction in a house facing the sea in Llangennith, on the Gower peninsula, south Wales. She is the author of two collections of short fiction, The South Westerlies (2019) and Connective Tissue (2022) both published by SALT. Her debut novel, Advent (2021) was published by Welsh women’s press, HONNO, and awarded the SoA’s Paul Torday Memorial Prize in 2022. Her short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Short Works series.She has a PhD in Creative Writing (Swansea University), is a Hay Festival Writer at Work, and importantly, is grandmother to Meg, Flo and Alice.
X: @jfraserwriter Instagram: @janefraserwriter W: www.janefraserwriter.com

Marie Gethins

Third Prize: ‘Foxed’ by Marie Geth­ins.

Marie Gethins featured in Winter Papers, Bristol Short Story Prize, Australian Book Review, NFFD Anthologies, Banshee, Fictive Dream, Pure Slush, Bath Flash Anthologies, FlashBack Fiction, Jellyfish Review, Litro, REED and others. Awarded B.A.’s in Eng­lish Lit­er­a­ture and Dra­matic Art/Dance from U.C. Berke­ley, an MSt in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick. She received a Frank O’Connor Bursary, Banff Center for Arts and Creativity residency and a Hawthornden Fellowship. Selected for Best Microfictions, BIFFY50, Best Small Fictions, she is the flash editor for Banshee and co-edits for Splonk.

Ruth Clarke

Winner of the Acorn Award for an Unpublished Writer of Fiction: ‘Fishing At Pisa Airport’ by Ruth Clarke.

Ruth Clarke lives in Norwich – the ‘City of Stories.’ She began writing fiction last year, taking courses with The Arvon Foundation and National Centre for Writing. This will be her first published story.

Rob Campbell

Highly Commended and also winner of the Local Prize ‘King of the Rec’ by Rob Campbell.

Rob Campbell splits his time between Bristol and Dartmoor and is married with two children. After a career in newspapers and education he began writing fiction and is working on a novel inspired by his PhD in journalism history from the University of South Wales. Rob has been highly commended in the Regional Press Awards for his column which ran in the Western Daily Press for 23 years, and in the Hastings Book Festival for fiction. He writes about art for the Friends of the Royal West of England Academy, and is a mentor for the Longford Trust.

Ben Howels

Highly Commended: ‘Ripples’ by Ben Howels.

Ben Howels hails from Exeter, England. A lawyer for many years, he eventually accepted the inevitable conclusion – that fictional worlds were more interesting than offices.He has previously been published everywhere from Writers Online to Spring Song Press,The Arcanist, and All Worlds Wayfarer. He’s also written three novels, and one day hopes to get them into print.
Ben can usually be found down the gym, hanging/falling off jugs at a climbing wall, or on X/Twitter – @BenHowel