“Before He Left the Family”

Shortlist for BBC International Short Story Award announced

September 17th, 2012

It’s a good year for Deborah Levy. Not only is her novel Swimming Home on the shortlist for the Man Booker prize, but her story “Black Vodka” has been shortlisted for the £15,000 BBC International Short Story Prize. Also on the list for the 2012 prize are “The iHole” by Julian Gough, who won the BBC National Short Story Award in 2007, and “Even Pretty Eyes Commit Crimes” by M J Hyland, who was shortlisted last year.

To mark the Olympic year, the award has extended its remit to writers from across the globe, and the shortlist does have an international flavour: “The Goose Father” by Krys Lee (South Korea / United States); “East of the West” by Miroslav Penkov (born in Bulgaria, now living in the United States); “In the Basement” by Adam Ross (United States); “Before He Left the Family” by Carrie Tiffany (Australia), and “A Lovely and Terrible” by Chris Wormersley (Australia). The rest of the shortlist is: “Escape Routes” by Lucy Caldwell; and “Sanctuary” by Henrietta Rose-Innes.

The winning author, to be announced on October 2 live on Front Row, will receive £15,000, the runner-up £2,500 and the eight other shortlisted authors £250 each.

The stories will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 3.30pm from Monday 17th onwards. Each story will become available on the day of broadcast as a free download available for two weeks. Then it will be available as a commercial audiobook via AudioGo. The BBC International Short Story Award 2012 Anthology, published by Comma Press, is available at all good bookshops and the Comma Press store from Monday, as well as in Kindle format.