Last night we held an online launch for our 2025 anthology and were thrilled that 13 of our authors were able to  be with us to read extracts from their stories. In between the readings we held brief breakout groups so the authors could meet and chat about, among other things, how they worked and future projects.

Authors present were: Cleo Heywood, Jay McKenzie, Zuzu Cole, Joanna Campbell, Steve Mellen, Gio Iozzi, Kathryn Inns, Lauren Collett, Rosaleen Lynch, Amy Stewart, Ella Plevin, Morwenna Lawson and, joining us from Brazil, Malina Douglas.

Our 2026 award ends in 5 weeks on Monday, April 27th. We welcome stories from any genre and in any form/style of up to 2200 words. Prizes are £1200 (1st), £300 ( 2nd), £100 ( 3rd) with the Acorn Award for an Unpublished Writer of Fiction and a Local Prize sponsored by Mr B’s Emporium of Books. Our judge is literary agent Gordon Wise from Curtis Brown.  Time to get writing! Copies of the anthology are available from adhocfiction.com and in paperback from Amazon 

Would you like to come to hear winning and shortlisted writers from our 2025 Award read extracts from their stories this Wednesday, 25th March? We have a Zoom event from 7.30 pm to 9.30n pm, London Time.

It’s a chance to get a sense of the range of styles and themes of the stories and maybe be inspired to enter our 2026 Award, which closes on Monday April 27th. £1200 top prize.

Contact us at bathshortstoryaward(at)gmail(dot) com. for a zoom link asap if you would like to attend.

The 2025 Anthology is available for sale from adhocfiction.com and on Amazon

International Women’s Day (IWD)  ,which celebrates the political, social, economic and cultural achievements of women, was 115 years old on March 8th, 2026. It began in the USA in 1909 as National Women’s Day, in response to a campaign for better pay, shorter hours and voting rights. At an international conference for working women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, a political activist, suggested making it international and from that time it was marked in different countries around the world (mainly in Europe). It wasn’t until 1975 that the United Nations made it official and for each year there’s a different theme. In 2026 the theme is #GiveToGain: to encourage community and support for each other.

There are so many inspirational women who have made history and continue to do so and this young writer with Bath connections is nothing short of remarkable. Continue reading →