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Elaine Canning

Take a Bite: The Rhys Davies Short Story Award Anthology

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"Take a Bite presents a dozen stories by confident practitioners of the short story form, all clearly revelling in the concisions of the form and the exigencies of telling a tale with restraint and economy and also equipped with just the right tools, being a prose writer’s paring-knife and a flashbulb for all those vivid flashbulb moments." - Jon Gower, Nation.Cymru

 

EDITED BY ELAINE CANNING

JUDGED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JULIA BELL

“It was a tough call to pick twelve stories from such a strong selection, but these pieces are all fantastic examples of the short story form, with subjects which take in lockdown, sexuality, grief, dysfunctional families and even a trip to the pub – all written in a mixture of registers, but contained by the tiny machine of the short story at which Rhys Davies was such an expert. I look forward to watching these pieces reach a wider readership and revealing the overall winner in due course.” - Julia Bell

 

A collection of new contemporary short stories by Welsh writers, representing the winners of the 2021 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition. The twelve diverse and original stories in this anthology explore a range of themes including the relationship between memory and history, people and place, as well as class and culture within innovative approaches to form, content and voice.

The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is a distinguished national writing competition for writers born or living in Wales. Originally established in 1991, Parthian is delighted to publish the 2021 winning stories on behalf of the Rhys Davies Trust and in association with Swansea University’s Cultural Institute.

Previous winners of the prize have included Leonora Brito, Tristan Hughes and Kate Hamer.

Authors in this anthology: Susmita Bhattacharya, Brennig Davies, Giancarlo Gemin, Craig Hawes, Chloë Heuch, Philippa Holloway, Joshua Jones, Jupiter Jones, Kate Lockwood Jefford, Rosie Manning, Naomi Paulus, Elizabeth Pratt.

“As Wales’ pre-eminent short story writer it’s appropriate that the name of Rhys Davies should be attached to the latest contest for works in this much neglected form. The competition, which began in 1991, has encouraged a whole range of new writers to test out how best to manage something that’s often more substantial than a poem but nowhere near the long distance of the novel. As culture moves ever towards the swifter and the more concise, we are delighted to support the relaunch of this national competition.”
- Peter Finch, Secretary, Rhys Davies Trust

 


 

 

Elaine Canning is an Irish writer living in Swansea and has many years’ experience working as a public engagement professional in arts and culture. She is currently Head  of Cultural Engagement at Swansea University and Executive Officer of the Dylan Thomas Prize. She has an MA and PhD in Hispanic Studies from Queen’s University, Belfast and an MA in Creative Writing from Swansea University. As well as having written a monograph and papers on Spanish Golden-Age drama, she has also published several short stories. Her debut novel, The Sandstone City, is forthcoming with Aderyn Press in 2022.