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!
Hear from one of the 2021 judges and acclaimed author, Courttia Newland, and join us for the reveal of the story chosen from our shortlist of eight as the winner of this year’s prize.
Dinesh Allirajah (1967-2014) was a lecturer in creative writing at Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Central Lancashire and Edge Hill, ran workshops and literacy classes in community centres, schools and prisons, acted as Chair of the National Black Arts Alliance and the National Association for Literature Development, and was a long-term director of Comma Press. He was also a DJ, playwright, radio presenter, cricket enthusiast and blogger. Amongst these many other things, first and foremost, he was a writer, and he loved to write short fiction, which he posted regularly on his blog (Real Time Short Stories). His short stories were featured in numerous anthologies and magazines, and first collected in A Manner of Speaking (Spike Books, 2004) and posthumously in Scent, the first comprehensive collection of his work, published by Comma Press in 2014.
Comma in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire, have set up this prize, in his name, as part of a lasting legacy of his love of writing short fiction. This event is supported by the Northern Short Story Festival.
This is a free online event. Book here.
The winning writer will receive £500 and all eight shortlisted authors will be featured in an ebook anthology which will be published by Comma Press and sold online. The winner will also have their story published online by our media partner Northern Soul.
