This year's shortlist of six exceptional stories each takes the listener on an intense and gripping journey into the human heart. With poise, precision, and a light-footed grace, they conjure dramatically different, starkly real worlds.
Hailing from Ireland, the United States and The Bahamas, the finalists of 2020 share stories on subjects as far apart as their settings, exploring among them romantic and marital discord, dark secrets, homelessness and even a high school football team; yet each one opens doors into its characters' lives in surprising and moving ways.
In another outstanding year for The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, dubbed 'the world's most prestigious short story prize' by LitHub, this shortlist bears powerful witness to the thrilling possibilities of the short story form.
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(Audible Studios, 15 September 2020, 3 hours 4 minutes, audiobook, @audibleuk Original Podcast, free with membership)
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I enjoyed all of the stories in this collection. The standard is a high as I've come to expect from listening to the 2019 collection. The authors were all new to me. I liked the fact the stories were all varied and different so none of them were 'samey'. The best stories were Granma's Porch by Alexia Tolas, Simon by Daniel O'Malley and Love Many by Niamh Campbell.
