2012 Edge Hill Prize longlist

The 2012 Edge Hill Prize longlist has just been announced via the Edge Hill website. I am excited to finally discuss what I have been reading during the past 10 weeks and I will be posting reviews of each of collection shortly. 


Longlisted authors and collections are as follows:

• Nina Allan - The Silver Wind (Eibonvale). Allan is a regular contributor to Interzone and Black Static, and was short-listed for the 2010 British Fantasy Award in the Short Fiction category.
• Hanan Al-Shaykh - One Thousand and One Nights (Bloomsbury). The Lebanese novelist, short-story writer and playwright, is one of the leading contemporary women writers in the Arab world. Some of her wok has been banned in parts of the Middle East.
• Gaynor Arnold - Lying Together (Tindal Street Press). The former social worker was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize 2008 and the Orange Prize for Fiction 2009.
• A.J Ashworth - Somewhere Else, Or Even Here (Salt Publishing). This debut collection of short stories won Salt Publishing's Scott Prize 2011.
• Neil Campbell - Pictures from Hopper (Salt Publishing). This is Campbell's second full-length collection. He has had numerous short stories and poems published.
• Charles Christian - This is the Quickest Way Down (Proxima Publishing). Christian is the founding editor of Ink Sweat & Tears.
• Stanley Donwood - Household Worms (Tangent Books). Donwood is known for his close association with the British rock group Radiohead, having created all their album and poster art.
• Catherine Eisner - Listen Close To Me (Salt Publishing). Eisner's fictions have appeared regularly in a number of UK literary journals and she is an Associate of the Royal College of Art.
• Stuart Evers - Ten Stories about Smoking (Picador). A former bookseller and editor, Evers now writes about books for the Guardian, Independent, New Statesman, Time Out and other publications.
• Orfhlaith Foyle - Somewhere in Minnesota (Arlen House). The writer and poet was born in Nigeria to Irish missionary parents. Living there as well as Kenya and Malawi has had a profound effect upon her writing.
• Sue Gee - Last Fling (Salt Publishing). Acclaimed novelist and controversial winner of the 1997 Romantic Novel of the Year Award.
• Tessa Hadley - Married Love (Cape). Hadley reviews regularly for the London Review of Books and the Guardian and was short-listed for The Story Award in the US. She has also been a judge for the IMPAC literary prize 2011 and for the BBC Short Story Award 2011.
• Sarah Hall - The Beautiful Indifference (Faber). Multi award-winning Hall has been featured in The Times 100 Best Books of the Decade.
• Beda Higgins - Chameleon (Iron Press). The part-time nurse won first prize in the Mslexia Short Story Competition in 2009 and her work has been included in various anthologies and collections.
• Nigel Jarret - Funderland (Parthian). The Welsh freelance writer and former newspaper reporter is a winner of the Rhys Davies Prize for short fiction.
• Dave Jeffery - Campfire Chillers (Dark Continents Publishing). Jeffery is best known for his zombie novel Necropolis Rising, which has gone on to be a UK number one Bestseller.
• Fred Johnston - Dancing in the Asylum (Parthian). The writer, journalist and musician from Galway is also the founder of the Western Writers Centre.
• Zoe Lambert - The War Tour (Comma). The Creative Writing lecturer at the University of Bolton is finishing her first novel and is an active campaigner for the rights of asylum seekers.
• Stuart MacBride - Twelve Days of Winter: Crime at Christmas (Harper Collins). The Scottish writer is most famous for his crime thrillers.
• Rowena Macdonald - Smoked Meat (Flambard). This first collection is based on Macdonald's experiences waitressing while travelling in Montreal.
• Felicity McCall - A Pitying of Doves (Guidhall Press). This is the first short-story collection from the Irish journalist and award-winning playwright, screenplay writer and novelist.
• Alan McCormick - Dogsbodies and Scumsters (Roast Books). A Writer in Residence with InterAct, a charity providing fiction readings for stroke patients, McCormick's stories have been widely published.
• Erinna Mettler - Starlings (Revenge Ink). After working at the British Film Institute for 13 years Mettler decided to start writing in between raising a family and is now studying for her MA.
• Robert Minhinnick - The Keys of Babylon (Seren). The Welsh poet, essayist, novelist and translator has also been short-listed for the Sunday Times Short Story Award 2012.
• Jim Mullarkey - And (Doire Press). The runner-up in the 2003 Galway Cúirt Poetry Festival has recently facilitated creative writing workshops for adults with learning difficulties.
• Courttia Newland - A Book of Blues (Flambard Publishing). The rapper and music producer is a British writer of Jamaican and Bajan heritage who was short-listed for the 2010 Alfred Fagon Award and long-listed for the 2011 Frank O' Connor Award.
• Edna O'Brien - Saints and Sinners (Faber). Once banned in Ireland, the Irish author now has a string of awards under her belt and won the country's 2011 Frank O'Connor prize for this short story collection.
• Cassandra Parkin - New World Fairy Tales (Salt Publishing). An up-and-coming writer and winner of Salt Publishing's 2011 Scott Prize.
• David Rix - Feather (Eibonvale). A British writer in the areas of Horror and Magical Realism/Speculative Fiction.
• Robert Shearman - Everyone's Just So, So Special (Big Finish). Shearman is best known as a writer for Doctor Who and has been previously short-listed for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize.
• Simon Kurt Unsworth - Quiet Houses (Dark Continents Publishing). The British writer of supernatural fiction was nominated for a 2008 World Fantasy Award and his work has been published in a number of anthologies.