BBC International Short Story Award shortlist announced

In the week when Apple launches its latest must-have product the iPhone 5, a story lampooning our obsession with desirable consumer electronics is shortlisted for the BBC International Short Story Award. Julian Gough’s story ‘The iHole’ imagines the launch of a new gadget – a mini, personal Black Hole – or a glorified rubbish bin.

Other highlights include Deborah Levy whose novel Swimming Home was shortlisted for the Man Booker earlier this week, and Lucy Caldwell whose story about the troubles plaguing Northern Ireland in the 1990s has an eerie timeliness with the recent spate of violence in Belfast.

For the first time in its history, the prestigious BBC Award has opened its doors to entries from around the world. Indeed, the shortlist reflects this international spirit with a tender tale of homosexual love in South Korea, or harrowing scenes of domestic violence in the South African bush.

The winner of the £15,000 prize will be announced live on BBC Front Row on October 2^nd.

This year’s shortlist in full is:

• ‘Escape Routes’ by Lucy Caldwell
• ‘The iHole’ by Julian Gough
• ‘Even Pretty Eyes Commit Crimes’ by M J Hyland
• ‘The Goose Father’ by Krys Lee
• ‘Black Vodka’ by Deborah Levy
• ‘East of the West’ by Miroslav Penkov
• ‘Sanctuary’ by Henrietta Rose-Innes
• ‘In the Basement’ by Adam Ross
• ‘Before he Left the Family’ by Carrie Tiffany
• ‘A Lovely and Terrible Thing’ by Chris Womersley