Further Recognition for Creative Writing at Cardiff

Multi-award-winning writer shortlisted in Commonwealth Short Story Prize

Cardiff Creative Writing lecturer Tyler Keevil’s short story Amid the Winds is among the strong international shortlist selected from more than 5,000 entries.

Now in its eighth year, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from the 50 countries of the Commonwealth.

The 2019 shortlist of 21 short stories represents 16 nations, with five countries - Barbados, Cyprus, Malaysia, Tanzania and Zambia - making their award debut.

The Canadian-born writer and lecturer is twice winner of the Wales Book of the Year People’s Prize for Fireball and the epic road-trip adventure The Drive, his first two novels.

He previously collected the Writers Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for Sealskin from his first short fiction collection Burrard Inlet.

On hearing the news, Tyler said:

“It’s thrilling to be on the shortlist.  The other stories sound amazing and the range and breadth of works is really inspiring – I feel lucky to have my story selected as one of them.“

Chair of the Judges, British novelist, playwright and essayist Caryl Phillips said:

“The vitality and importance of the short story form is abundantly clear in this impressive shortlist of stories from around the world. These authors have dared to imagine into the lives of an amazingly wide range of characters and their stories explore situations that are both regional and universal.”

Relatively young among literary prizes, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize offers an opportunity to read and think across borders, aiming to connect imaginations from around the globe. The 2019 winner will be announced later this year.

The shortlisting comes in the same week as Creative Writing lecturer Ailhbe Darcy made the 2019 Pigott Poetry Prize shortlist with Insistence. Now in its sixth year, the largest prize for a poetry collection by an Irish poet will be announced on 29 May.

Cardiff University was a pioneer of teaching Creative Writing in the UK and continues to offer both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy.