Literature North West

24th January 2012

JUDGE: Tessa Hadley 1st Prize: £2,000 plus a week's writing retreat at Chawton House Library* and a day with a Virago editor** 
 2nd Prize: £500, 3rd Prize: £250 Three other finalists win £100 each.
 All winning stories will be published in issue 54 of Mslexia. CLOSING DATE: 19 March 2012 Please make sure you read the competition rules thoroughly before entering. http://www.mslexia.co.uk/whatson/msbusiness/scomp_active.php    * The Chawton House Library (CHL) retreat is accommodation only: dates to be agreed between CHL and the competition winner.
** The day with a Virago editor: date to be agreed between Virago and the competition winner. Both of these additional prizes are optional. The winner is responsible for any other expenses involved with attending the CHL retreat and the day with the Virago editor, i.e., travel, food etc. The prizes must be taken by 31 May 2013. THE JUDGE ‘There’s no recipe for a good short story – in fact, they need to be unexpected, surprising. The most familiar material can be surprising if it’s seen freshly.’ Tessa Hadley has written four novels – the latest of which, The London Train, was published in 2011 – and one collection of short stories, Sunstroke. A new story collection, Married Love, comes out in January 2012. She publishes stories regularly in the New Yorker, and reviews for the London Review of Books and the Guardian. She teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.