From first loves to last laughs

From first loves to last laughs: the shortlist for the BBC International Short Story Award opens a window to the world

The shortlist for the BBC International Short Story Award was announced this evening on BBC Radio 4's Front Row. Spanning oceans, from Australia, through South Korea, across South Africa, Eastern Europe, America and all the way back to the UK, the stories travel from broken home to broken heart with vibrancy, candour and compassion.

Amongst the shortlisted authors are Julian Gough, winner of the BBC National Short Story Award in 2007, M J Hyland who was shortlisted in 2011, and Deborah Levy whose novel, Swimming Home, has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012.

For the first time since it launched in 2006 - and for one year only - the BBC Short Story Award invited authors from across the globe to enter alongside UK practitioners. The winning author, to be announced on October 2 live on Front Row, will receive £15,000, the runner-up £2,500 and the eight other shortlisted authors £250 each.

This year's shortlist is:

• 'Escape Routes' by Lucy Caldwell
• 'The iHole' by Julian Gough
• 'Even Pretty Eyes Commit Crimes' by M J Hyland
• 'The Goose Father' by Krys Lee
• 'Black Vodka' by Deborah Levy
• 'East of the West' by Miroslav Penkov
• 'Sanctuary' by Henrietta Rose-Innes
• 'In the Basement' by Adam Ross
• 'Before he Left the Family' by Carrie Tiffany
• 'A Lovely and Terrible Thing' by Chris Womersley

The BBC National Short Story Award celebrates the best of contemporary British short fiction and is one of the most prestigious for a single short story. To reflect the global breadth of the International Award in 2012 the shortlist comprises ten short stories rather than the usual five. Each of the ten shortlisted stories will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 over two weeks.

Ten of the UK's top actors - including Rory Kinnear and Andrew Scott - will each read one of the shortlisted stories, to be broadcast daily on BBC Radio 4 at 3.30pm from Monday. Each story will become available on the day of broadcast as a free download available for two weeks. Then it will be available as a commercial audiobook via AudioGo. The BBC International Short Story Award 2012 Anthology, published by Comma Press, is available at all good bookshops and the Comma Press store from Monday, as well as in Kindle format.

BBC Radio 4 broadcaster Clive Anderson chairs the judging panel this year which consists of novelists Anjali Joseph and Ross Raisin, novelist and Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, Michèle Roberts, and Editor of Readings, BBC Radio, Di Speirs.

Clive Anderson, Chair of Judges:
'Judging this competition was a great privilege and a perfect reminder of just how rewarding the short story genre can be. To celebrate the Olympics this year's competition is international and the entries did come from all round the world. Universal themes were explored within the confines of the short story. In the ten which made it to the shortlist are to be found every day human activities such as first loves and last laughs, infidelity and murder. Plus a goose, a dog and a must-have disposable electronic device. In short, some great stories.'

Find out more about the stories and their authors