Congratulations to Isidora Cortes-Monroy, winner of the 2021 Bristol Prize with her brilliant short story Cake For The Disappeared.

Isidora is originally from Chile but was raised in Switzerland and studied in the UK at the universities of Manchester and Cambridge.

Continuing the international theme of Volume 14 of the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, second placed author Amanda Ong is from California and is currently based in Seattle. Third prize was awarded to Sarah Tinsley, a UK writer currently living in France.

The 14th Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology is an inspiring collection of stories selected from 2,545 entries to the 2021 competition. It introduces 20 scintillating writers from around the globe with authors from the UK, India, South America, Germany and Canada.

Featuring: Gayathiri Dhevi Appathurai, Isidora Cortes-Monroy, Nina Cullinane, Kevin Donnellan, Loise Finnigan, David Frankel, Gonzalo C. Garcia, Susanna Gould, S.P. Hannaway, Frances Hurd, Kate Lockwood Jefford, Vijay Khurana, Blaine Newton, Amanda Ong, Ajay Patri, Annie Q. Syed, Sarah Tinsley, Danielle Vrublevskis, Anna Whyatt, David Winstone

Writers published in previous Bristol Short Story Prize anthologies have gone on to further publication and success:

Dima Alzayat, winner of the 2017 BSSP was signed by agent Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedman, a judge for the competition that year. Dima’s debut short story collection was published in May 2020

Chloe Wilson, who won 2nd prize in 2018, was subsequently signed by Kate Johnson at MW Lit, who was a judge that year. Chloe’s debut short story collection was published earlier this year.

Emily Bullock was discovered by literary agent Ed Wilson in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 4. She subsequently signed a publishing deal with Myriad Books. Her debut novel was published in April 2015, her second in 2020 and a short story collection in August 2021.

Mahsuda Snaith, the winner of the 2014 Bristol Short Story Prize, had her debut novel The Things We Thought We Knew published by Transworld in June 2017, and her second in 2019.

Danielle McLaughlin’s debut collection of short stories was published in 2015. Danielle was published in volume 5 & 7 Bristol Short Story Prize anthologies.

Clare King has had two novels published by Bloomsbury. Clare featured in volume 3 of the Bristol Short Story Prize anthologies.

Tara Conklin’s 2010 shortlisted story, Signs of Our Redemption, published in BSSP Anthology Vol 3 was the basis for her bestselling debut novel, The House Girl, published by William Morrow in the US.

Judges for the 2021 BSSP were: Irene Baldoni (Literary Agent at Georgina Capel), Tom Robinson (Manager of Gloucester Rd Books in Bristol), Mahsuda Snaith (author of two novels, creative writing teacher).

Bristol Short Story Prize is an annual, international writing competition based in the Bristol UK. BSSP publishes an anthology of 20 stories every year & presents cash prizes to the writers.