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Latest news and articles from the Northern Short Story Festival!

Meet Our Academicians: Monica Dickson

Every day this week, in advance of opening our submission window for 2021/22 we are profiling our 6 Academicians of 2020/2021. Meet Monica Dickson. I write flash fiction and longer short stories. My work has been published in anthologies and lit mags such as Spelk, Dear Damsels, jmww, Anti-Heroin Chic, X-R-A-Y, and been broadcast on East Leeds FM. I’ve been longlisted for the Reflex Flash Fiction and Bath Flash Fiction awards, shortlisted for […]

Meet Our Academicians: Glenis Burgess

Every day this week, in advance of opening our submission window for 2021/22 we are profiling our 6 Academicians of 2020/2021. Meet Glenis Burgess. I’ve just finished a wonderful six months with the Northern Short Story Festival Academy; I feel I was so lucky in the other people on the Academy. I hope every year’s intake feels the same way. This year we had people with a wide range of […]

Meet Our Academicians: Lynn Bauman-Milner

Every day this week, in advance of opening our Academy submission window for 2021/22 next week, we are profiling our 6 Academicians of 2020/2021. First up is Lynn Bauman-Milner. I’ve been writing as a hobby for years; once I left teaching, I wrote to escape from the demons in my head. I enjoyed it so much, and after having a memorial essay published by Canada’s national newspaper, I decided to […]

The Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction – Prize Ceremony

We’re excited to be supporting The Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction. There will be readings by the winner and runner-up of this year’s prize, plus 2021 judge and author Courttia Newland, hosted by Comma Press and us!  Join us for an evening of readings to celebrate the announcement of the winner and runner-up of the 2021 Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction. Hear from one of the 2021 judges […]

This New North Shortlisted for Best Anthology in the Saboteur Awards 21. Please Vote!

We’re thrilled that Leeds literature has made the shortlist in 2 categories of the Saboteur Awards 21! Best Anthology for This New North and  Best Literary Festival for Leeds Lit Fest. We won Best Literary Festival last year and this is our third nomination and we’d love to win it again but can only do so if you vote. Voting closes this Wednesday (5th) at midday!  You only have to vote in THREE […]

This New North. Anthology Book Launch from the Northern Short Story Festival

We’re delighted to be launching This New North at Leeds Lit Fest on Wednesday 3 March 2021. Our new anthology showcases the range of writing talent in the North of England. 12 of the writers featured in this anthology are graduates of our Northern Short Story Festival Academy programme which has helped to develop the voices of brand-new short story writers based in the region, alongside stories by Litro fiction editor Barney Walsh, […]

LEEDS LIT FEST 2021: GOING DIGITAL! 2 – 7 MARCH

Leeds Lit Fest is back and we are proud partners! Returning for its third year in the face of significant challenges and uncertainty, the city’s festival of words and thought could not be more needed. This year, with the world pivoted to digital in the face of the pandemic, the 6 days of Leeds Lit Fest take place entirely online with all but 2 workshops run on a Pay As […]

Merry Christmas From the Thompsons!

41 The Scrubbins Todmorden Dear everyone, A joyful and merry festive season to you all. What a year it has been! For the Family Thompson – Colin, Helen, and sons Tom and David – this has been a year of highs and lows. Christmas 2019, when Colin had just lost his job, was a low point for us. Little did any of us know back then how much worse things […]

The Northern Short Story Festival Academy Announces Support For A Further 6 Yorkshire Writers

The Northern Short Story Festival Academy is delighted to announce that it will be supporting a further six short story writers from Yorkshire in 2021. These writers will join the 12 who were selected in 2018 when The Northern Short Story Festival Academy was launched. The Northern Short Story Festival Academy is a development programme aimed at helping short story writers in Yorkshire take their writing to the next level. […]

Comma Press, in partnership with the Northern Short Story Festival, launch horror anthology, The New Abject.

We’re delighted to be working in partnership with our friends at Comma Press to launch their new horror anthology, The New Abject on Wednesday 4 November at 7.30pm via Zoom. Book your tickets here. Something has fallen away. We have lost something of ourselves, our history, what we once were. That something, if we are to face it, look it squarely in the eyes, terrifies us, makes us wretched. This […]