22 Fictions

A curated selection drawn from the first five years of two indie bookseller-run projects—Madrid’s Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize and London’s Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize—these 22 Fictions feature Purim celebrations, multiple Stuart Halls, a kidnapping, an aeroplane fleeing a volcano, gender injustice, a chicken shop menu, climate change, a shaved horse, activism, and much besides, all the while roaming from a Cornish farming village to a Paris basement, a hotel bar, an island with a steep hill, a location deep within the internet, a family dinner table and further.

Featuring work from:
Shola Von Reinhold, Leeor Ohayon, Tom Benn, Alice Haworth-Booth, N G F Clark, Danielle Giles, Francesca Reece, Melody Razak, Mariana Roa Oliva, Giovanna Iozzi, Suey Kweon, K. Lockwood Jefford, Katie Hale, Max Lury, Jay Gao, Aoife Inman, Andrea Mason, Aisha Phoenix, Isha Karki, Jack Houston, Siri Katinka Valdez, Rajasree Variyar.

Foreword by Joanna Walsh and an introduction by Wendy Erskine, former judges of the two prizes.

Kate Ellis is a writer based in London. Her short fiction has been published in the Open Pen Anthology, The Mechanics' Institute Review, 100 Voices, and The London Short Story Prize Anthology among others. She runs the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize, hosts the BLB Podcast, works for Inpress Books, and one day might finish writing her short story collection.

Robert Loyko-Greer is a writer based in London, where he works for the publisher Profile Books. He co-founded the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize in 2017.