Join The Northern Short Story Festival and Comma Press for The Dinesh Allirajah 2022 Prize-giving

Featuring all eight shortlistees of the 2022 prize, crime writer and judge Karline Smith and a special appearance from 2021 winner Isha Karki.

On the 25th of May 2022 join Comma Press and The Northern Short Story Festival online for The Dinesh Allirajah 2022 prize-giving. This year the shortlist has been passed on to a panel of esteemed judges including successful crime writer, Karline Smith; editor at Northodox Press, specialising in crime fiction, Tom Copeland; senior lecturer at UCLan, Helen Day; and writer for Northern Soul, Kevin Bourke.

Where: Online, from the comfort of your own home 

When: May 25 @ 7:30 pm – 8:00 pm

How Much: Free

Book your tickets now

All shortlisted authors will be featured in an eBook anthology which will be published by Comma Press and sold online. See the 2021 winner and eBook anthology here.

 

About the prize:

Open to both published and unpublished writers, the Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction aims to seek out the best established and up and coming voices in the form, in honour of Dinesh Allirajah who passed away suddenly in 2015. Dinesh, who described himself as a jazz writer, lectured in creative writing at the University of Central Lancashire for eight years and was a long-term director of Comma Press.

Now in its fifth year, the prize received almost 200 submissions. UCLan students devised a shortlist of eight stories by writers from across the UK who are at varying stages in their writing careers, from first-time and shortlisted short story writers to published novelists.

The theme for the 2022 Prize is ‘Crime Stories’. Crime was just one of many themes/genres tackled by Dinesh in his work, and something he reflected on through his blog, ‘Real Time Short Stories’. Comma also has experience publishing crime fiction, having published two CWA anthologies during Dinesh’s tenure, and want to use this increasingly popular genre to reach new writers with this year’s prize.

The shortlist has been passed on to the panel of esteemed judges who are deciding the winner of this year’s prize, who will be announced at the prize-giving. The 2022 panel includes successful crime writer, Karline Smith; editor at Northodox Press, specialising in crime fiction, Tom Copeland; senior lecturer at UCLan, Helen Day; and writer for Northern Soul, Kevin Bourke.

The winning writer will receive £500 and will have their story published online by Northern Soul. All shortlisted authors will be featured in an eBook anthology which will be published by Comma Press and sold online.

More about the shortlist in the event description here