Last Friday morning, Jude and Alison met Jenny Tunstall, our BSSA 2022 Local Prize winner, at Mr B’s Emporium of Books in Bath, so owner Nic Bottomley could present the book vouchers he generously donated for her win. We all posed in front of the book-filled bath in this fabulous bookshop and had a celebratory cup of coffee afterwards. A happy occasion. And thanks very much to Mr B’s for continuing to support our BSSA Award.

Jenny wrote the story ‘Starling Boy. In the judges’ report, we commented:

What an exuberant and original use of language, with echoes of the beat poets and Dylan Thomas. This story hurtles along but, at its core, is the sad tale of a young lad and his alcoholic mother – all the more poignant when buried in an explosion of the sights and sounds of school life.

We’re delighted that Jenny is coming to the online launch of the 2022 BSSA Anthology of winning and shortlisted stories on Zoom on December 9th, 7.30 pm to 9.30 pm GMT to read an extract from ‘Starling Boy’. Nearly all the other winning and shortlisted authors are coming to read at the event. We still have spaces for those who would like to come and listen to extracts from a marvellous array of short stories. If you would like to attend, email us at bathshortstory award (at) gmail (dot) com