• Observer Award and Book Launch in May

    FiN member Julia Clayton was runner- up in the Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism 2026 . At the event at the Art Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury, she received what she called ‘a fun trophy’ (modelled on one of the only prizes Anthony Burgess received, which was presented to him by Margaret Thatcher) as…

  • Fiction Writer’s Network April News

    Despite the Easter break, we’ve still got a lot happening this month in FiN! First off, Dr Julia Clayton has made the shortlist for the Observer / Anthony Burgess Arts Writing Prize 2026 (with a reception / ceremony in London on 13th May) with a review of the 150th Anniversary ‘Salon Hang’ exhibition at the…

  • Member’s March News

    Member’s March News

    After the fantastic event at EHU Arts Centre on Tuesday 17th with Tessa Hadley, Ailsa Cox, Carys Bray and Julia Clayton, we have some more great news. Andrea Ashworth’s (AJ Ashworth) second collection Maybe the Birds was longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Awards longlist last month. The prize has been running since 1970 and seeks…

  • FiN Event on March 17th Celebrating 20 Years of the Edge Hill Prize with winner Tessa Hadley

    FiN Event on March 17th Celebrating 20 Years of the Edge Hill Prize with winner Tessa Hadley

    We will be celebrating 20 years of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize at the Arts Centre, Edge Hill University, on March 17th starting at 7pm. The evening will see Prof. Ailsa Cox, the world’s only professor of the short story and Edge Hill’s Professor Emerita, opening the evening with a discussion about the importance…

  • More member successes and publications

    New member Joanne Reardon is one of the ten prize winners for the Blue Pencil Literary Agency Pitch Prize with her new novel Mr H’s Angel so do keep an eye out here for more news on that! You can find out more about the prize here: Pitch Prize Winners 2025 | Blue Pencil Agency…

  • Fiction Writer’s Network Updates

    There has been a lot happening in FiN over the past few months. Alongside the book launch of AJ Ashworth’s marvellous collection, Maybe The Birds, we have had two new members join the network. Dr Joanne Reardon, novelist and academic at The Open University (About Jo – Jo Reardon), and Dr Naomi Kruger, short story…

  • Ailsa Cox edits a personal anthology of the Short Story

    Ailsa Cox has edited a personal anthology of 12 of her favourite short stories, which can be found at this link. A Personal Anthology, by Ailsa Cox – by Jonathan Gibbs This is a lovely blog to subscribe to, with different guest editors choosing stories that have moved them, engaged and encouraged them, and it…

  • The New Academic Year for FiN

    As we look forward to the new first years starting induction week on Monday 29th September, we also look forward to an exciting year for the Fiction Writer’s Network. We have a new member starting, Dr Joanne Reardon, who we are very much looking forward to welcoming, and we have our first event of the…

  • A Reminder about Maybe the Birds

    A Reminder about Maybe the Birds

    AJ Ashworth’s new collection of 14 speculative short stories called Maybe The Birds will be published on August 19th 2025 with a book launch at Edge Hill’s Arts Centre on Tuesday October 21st.

  • End of Academic Year round up!

    With the teaching over for another (academic) year, we’ve got time to take a breather and look at what is coming up for the Fiction Writer’s Network in the next few months. Ailsa Cox’s story ‘Poltergeist’, which the network workshopped earlier in the year, will be published in the next issue of the Manchester Review,…