The shortlist for 2nd annual Novella Award has been announced. Launched in 2014, The Novella Award is awarded to a previously unpublished work of fiction, between 20,000-40,000 words in length. This year, the list includes Nina Allan, whose novel The Race was shortlisted for the BSFA Best Novel Award this year.

The full shortlist is here:

The Harlequin by Nina Allan

Motherland by Alix Christie

The Year of the Horse by Zoë Ranson

Mistakes by the Lake by Brian Petkash

When It Was Raining by Kevin Parry

Esp by Michael Wyndham Thomas

In Wolf Village by Penny Simpson

The venture is a partnership between the Screen School of Liverpool John Moores University and Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of Contemporary Arts, who originally established The Novella Award. Sandstone Press, Time to Read, and NAWE are all partners of the award and work alongside it to encourage the publication of new writing. judges are Alison Moore, award winning author of The Lighthouse and He Wants, Nicholas Royle, editor of Salt Publishing’s influential Best British Short Stories anthologies and Robert Graham, Director of the Novella Award.
The winning novella will receive a £1,000 cash prize and publication by award-winning Scottish independent publisher Sandstone Press. The runner-up is awarded £500 and a reader’s report. The winner will be announced on 7th October.