Gordon Wise, our 2026 BSSA judge, is a literary agent with Curtis Brown where he’s represented authors since 2005. He began his career in bookselling, then worked as an editor and publishing director before moving into the agent field. He has served as President of the Association of Authors’ Agents, been named Agent of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards and been listed among the publishing trade’s most influential figures. His interests span both fiction and non-fiction with a focus on literary fiction, crime, history and memoir.
It’s a great thrill to have Gordon judge our 2026 Award shortlist and we hope you enjoy reading his responses to Alison Woodhouse’s questions ─ especially if you’re thinking of entering our 2026 Award which closes on April 27th, 2026.
Thank you so much for agreeing to judge our 2026 award. You are with Curtis Brown Agency but have worked in many roles across the industry since 1995, including as an editor and publishing director. Would you say the role of an agent has changed over that time and, if so, in what way?
Thinking of the agents I have admired and who have inspired me, I don’t think the role has changed – if agents are doing their jobs properly – but if an agent is to represent a writer successfully in today’s market then certain key functions remain essential. One is that the agent is the constant in the author’s life – the days of a publisher committing to an author for their writing life or indeed more than a book of two are long gone; or, they may think they commit contractually but the commitment to publish effectively frequently wanes. The agent needs to be there to create a forward strategy, and devise that with the author in a way that is in the author’s long-term interests not just those of the publishing company. It’s frequently the agent that needs to make connections to create a 360-degree buzz around a campaign – making connections to gather quotes or land key aspects of media or in-person exposure. The agent is usually the editor before the editor has been landed upon – helping ready a project for submission. And the editor is the initial marketeer, devising strategies to land that publishing deal, reading the market for what it is looking for and identifying the commissioners who will engage, and counselling the author in the light of that. You can’t just send something out and hope for the best.
Do you have any advice for authors seeking representation who work primarily in short stories?
The blunt answer is, have a great idea for a novel! Stories and story collections generate very little income for a writer. An agent will only earn a fraction of that. An agent needs a strong business partner in a writer in order to stay afloat, and in return, help keep the writer’s writing life afloat. I wouldn’t suggest that any writer expect an agent only to be able to represent them for short stories. We need a big idea too.
What do you enjoy about the short story form? Any favourite authors/story collections?
I imagine that, as a writer, the joy is that you can put the spotlight on a moment, a relationship, an idea, which has a micro-plot but which doesn’t have to have a ‘big finish’. What matters is some moment within. And for me, that’s the joy as the reader too – wondering where that moment is going to land, how that writer is going to pull it off. That and marvelling at many writers’ ability to pull off ‘pocket operas’ – rollercoasters of gut-punching emotion set out across just a few pages, which may span minutes or decades of time.
The first stories I devoured wholesale were those of O. Henry and Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), then Daphne du Maurier. Each had a wry take on human nature, sometimes relishing the worst aspects of it and savouring the bittersweet, and often played around with the reader’s expectations as to what was going on. Reading them definitely shaped what I have gone on to enjoy in long-form fiction. Fast forward to now, and the stories I look forward to the most are those that I help judge in the Robert Bucke Short Story prize – Essex-based writers who are then celebrated at the Frinton Literary Festival. Several of our recent winners have been first-timers, and the conversation between the judges is always a fascinating journey into reading taste and what each of us looks for in a story.
You say in fiction you are looking for ‘memorable characters’. What do you think makes a compelling, unforgettable character and do you have any favourite examples?
Oh, that’s the eternal question, isn’t it? Character or plot? We usually say you can fix plot, but it’s harder to fix characters, as they are the DNA of the story. Good writers create characters who are three dimensional enough that they can be rewound a bit and redeployed if something isn’t playing out quite right. A bit like working with a great actor in rehearsal – they can go back and find something else in the part that engages the audience in a compelling way. But I’ll also say, if a plot isn’t any good to start with, it’s pretty hard to move a story forward! Plot isn’t always the driver of a short story though – or at least, it’s not necessarily plot resolution. It’s more that sense of something to ‘take away’, to have made those 10 or 20 minutes a great use of your time. As a result, characters who have intriguing perspectives or whose skin you have to get under to understand what’s going on are pretty important in the short story space.
How important are competitions such as the Bath Short Story Award for a writer’s career?
Of inestimable value! They set writers an achievable challenge – deliver a story on a theme or to an extent by a certain date, and no-one’s going to hold it against them if they don’t win the prize! You can just try again in another competition. It’s perfect safe-space writing that also has a bit of self-imposed jeopardy to it. And if you do get recognised, the feathers in your literary cap are only going to help build your writing wings as your career starts to take flight… and get you noticed. They are some of the most genuine early endorsements in a writer’s career, as they are as objective as assessing something as subjective as writing can be.
Our word limit is 2200 which is quite short compared with other prizes. What are you hoping to see in these stories and what are the pitfalls you’d advise writers to avoid?
It’s a brilliant and quite generous length. Some competitions are 1,000 words! I’d say I’m looking for everything I love in a short story – as set out above. The pitfalls? Wear things lightly. Writing should be a joy for writer and reader alike. Think hard about what you want to say, but don’t kill it by taking yourself too seriously. That said, just knocking something off lands with about as little conviction as there was in its execution. Allow us to be the ones that take it seriously, but give us something to be serious about. Give us your best, and give us a great read.