The winners of The Scott Prize for Short Stories 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, 30th April 2012
CROMER, UK (Salt Publishing) — We are delighted to announce that Carys Bray and Rob Roensch have won this year’s International Scott Prize for Short Stories. Both writers will be published in November 2012.
The international short story prize, now in its third year, recognises the best debut full-length collections in English and receives entries from the UK and Ireland, the USA and Australasia. This year’s winners are Carys Bray (UK) for her book, Sweet Home, and Rob Roensch’s (US) The Wildflowers of Baltimore.
Carys Bray lives in the North West seaside town of Southport with her husband and four children. She is a PhD student and associate tutor in creative writing at Edge Hill University. Her work has been published in a wide variety or magazines and anthologies, including New Fairy Tales where her story ‘The Ice Baby’ was published, and Mslexia which published her story ‘Just in Case,’ winner of the MA category of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize.
Rob Roensch has published short fiction in Slice, HOBART and PANK and elsewhere. He lives with his wife and daughters in Baltimore, Maryland and teaches at Towson University.
Jen Hamilton-Emery [Director of Salt Publishing] said: ‘Since developing the Scott Prize to promote and support debut short story writers, I have read and selected winners from hundreds of manuscripts. This year my task was made particularly difficult by the astonishing level of skill within our shortlist and I would recommend everyone to spend time discovering those writers. Making selections from the shortlist has been difficult but I have focused on the books which I believe have a depth and maturity of talent that all readers will immediately recognise. Carys Bray and Rob Roensch combine impeccable craft with unforgettable imagery to create stories that are surprising, psychologically resonant, emotionally complex and, above all else, a sheer joy to read. Carys and Rob, on either side of the Atlantic, both demonstrate that the short story is thriving and developing in the 21st century and I look forward to working with the writers and publishing their books later this year.’
The other shortlisted authors were:
Alison Moore
Otis Haschemeyer
Julia Bohanna
Chris Smith
Sarah Faulkner
Rusty Dolleman
Julie Mayhew
Maurice Gartshore
Madeleine D’Arcy
Further information on the two winning entries can be found here:
Cary Bray
Rob Roensch
Many congratulations to Carys and Rob, and to all who were shortlisted.
The Scott Prize is an international annual prize for a first collection of short fiction. Entrants must not have been published before, and must permanently reside in the UK & Ireland, the USA, or Australia & New Zealand.
Previous Winners of the Scott Prize are:
2011:
A.J. Ashworth (UK) – Somewhere Else of Even Here
Cassandra Parkin (UK) – New World Fairy Tales
Jonathan Pinnock (UK) – Dot Dash (to be published 2012)
2010:
Patrick Holland (Australia) – The Source of the Sound
David Mullins (US) – Greetings from Below (to be published 2012)
Susannah Rickards (UK) – Hot Kitchen Snow
Tom Vowler (UK) – The Method
For further information please contact:
Jen Hamilton-Emery at jen@saltpublishing.com
Congrats Carys and Rob!
Congratulations to Carys and Rob! The very best of luck to you both, from Madeleine
I’m hugely excited and slightly shell-shocked. Congrats Rob and to all who were shortlisted. I googled everyone and their work – an experience that was both enjoyable and intimidating. Big thanks to Salt for championing the short story.
Congratulations Carys! You deserve it all and now there will be many more who will enjoy your work–short fiction at its pitch of perfection. All the best for the future.
Congratulations Carys (only realised today that we’re both from Southport!) and Rob.
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Thank you Mike!
Chris, I wondered whether you lived in Southport when you mentioned red squirrels in your interview. Have you been involved in the Lancs Writing Hub at all? They do a lit night once a month, it’s called Word Soup and it happens in Preston. I bet they’d love to have you read there.
Red squirrels and natterjack toads! Yes – Ainsdale. I grew up there, but these days I just pass through to see the folks. Thanks for the info though.