The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award longlist is announced

17 February 2012

A short story containing only text messages is in the running to win the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2012. Will Cohu's 'Two Bad Thumbs' - the story of a relationship told through the texts of two lovers - will, however, face stiff competition from a whole host of bestselling and garlanded authors, including Diana Athill, Lionel Shriver, Emma Donoghue and Toby Litt.

The judges have narrowed their search to a longlist of 20 including 10 women and 10 men, ranging in age from 31 to 94 and drawn from as far afield as Hong Kong, Ireland, the USA, Canada and the UK. Jackie Kay, A L Kennedy and Kevin Barry have all previously been longlisted for the Award and Will Cohu is longlisted for the third consecutive year.

The full longlist:

Diana Athill - 'A Hopeless Case'
Kevin Barry - 'Beer Trip to Llandudno'
Evgenia Citkowitz - 'Business Class'
Will Cohu - 'Two Bad Thumbs'
Emma Donoghue - 'The Hunt'
Jackie Kay - 'These Are Not My Clothes'
A L Kennedy - 'Late in Life'
Jean Kwok - 'Where the Gods Fly'
Barrie de Lara - 'Dinner at Benutti's'
Tom Lee - 'The Current'
Toby Litt - 'The Sandy'
Alison MacLeod - 'The Heart of Denis Noble'
Martin Malone - 'Valley of the Peacock Angel'
Robert Minhinnick - 'El Aziz: Some Pages From His Notebooks'
Linda Oatman High - 'Nickel Mines Hardware'
Alison Pimlott - 'Five Year Diary'
Tamara Pollock - 'Elsa'
Alex Preston - 'The Bridge Over Shuto Expressway No. 1'
Lionel Shriver - 'Prepositions'
Johanna Skibsrud - 'Fat Man and Little Boy'

Novelist, screenwriter and broadcaster, Melvyn Bragg, who returns to the judging panel for the second consecutive year, commented:

'The most striking thing about the haul of entries this year was the wide range - not only in geography but also, and perhaps consequently, in subject matter. The novel used to be celebrated for bringing The News and many of these short stories certainly bring, in fiction based on closely observed reality, a fine perception of the way the world is going at the moment. It was the usual sweat to reduce the list to a mere 20 and now we're headed for the hothouse to get the last half dozen. There are many strong contenders.'