Cree: The Rhys Davies Short Story Anthology

Originally from Belfast, Elaine Canning is a public engagement specialist, writer and editor living inSwansea, South Wales. She holds an MA and PhD in Hispanic Studies from Queen's University, Belfast andan MA in Creative Writing from Swansea University. She is currently Head of Special Projects at SwanseaUniversity and Executive Officer of the Dylan Thomas Prize. As well as having written a monograph andpapers on Spanish Golden-Age drama, she has published several short stories. Her debut novel, TheSandstone City, publishes with Aderyn Press in November 2022. She is also editor of Maggie O'Farrell:Contemporary Critical Perspectives (forthcoming, Bloomsbury). Twitter: @elaine_canning.

Previous winners of the prize have included Leonora Brito, Tristan Hughes and Kate Hamer.A collection of new contemporary short stories by Welsh writers, comprising twelve diverse stories about relationships between people and places, representing the winners of the 2022 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition. Including short biographical notes on the authors.Family connections, unconventional friendships, love and loss: the twelve stories in this collection of new contemporary fiction by the winners of the 2022 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition present characters seeking solace, self-discovery and self-fulfilment as they navigate familiar and unfamiliar territory.Two sisters search for the last available Christmas tree while coming to terms with their mother’s death; a stammering teen hitches a lift with a Welsh Elvis; a man participates in his ‘endgame’; and a teacher and pupil create their very own time machine. From hillside encounters to conversations in homes, shops and on the street, these are stories about people and place, about relationships and revelations, peppered with memories and re-imaginings. These are stories where some voices are silenced and others get to sing.The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition recognises the very best unpublished short stories in English in any style by writers aged 18 or over who were born in Wales, have lived in Wales for two years or more, or are currently living in Wales. Originally established in 1991, Parthian is delighted to publish the 2022 winning stories on behalf of the Rhys Davies Trust and in association with Swansea University’s Cultural Institute.'As Wales’ pre-eminent short story writer it’s appropriate that the name of Rhys Davies should be attached to the latest contest for works in this much neglected form. The competition, which began in 1991, has encouraged a whole range of new writers to test out how best to manage something that’s often more substantial than a poem but nowhere near the long distance of the novel. As culture moves ever towards the swifter and the more concise, we are delighted to support the relaunch of this national competition.’ – Peter Finch, Secretary, Rhys Davies TrustAuthors in this anthology: Lindsay Gillespie, Bethan James, Meredith Miller, Laura Morris, Jonathan Page, Matthew G. Rees, Eryl Samuel, Matthew David Scott, Carys Shannon, Anthony Shapland, Satterday Shaw, and Daniel Patrick Luke Strogen.