We're excited to share our next two shortlisted writers, Hannah Foster and David Gill, whose work stood out among this year's prize submissions.
As with our spotlights over the past two years, we continue to champion all our shortlisted writers, knowing how vital visibility can be for emerging voices.
Hannah Foster
Hannah is from St Andrews, where she learned to love folklore and the sea. She has degrees in Social Anthropology and Gender, Policy and Inequalities, and enjoys examining society and humanity in her writing. She was diagnosed with ME in 2019 and now lives on the Isle of Tiree. She won The Octopus Scheme scholarship to work with The Novelry in 2023 on The Gorse in the Gloaming, her first novel.
You can keep up with her on Instagram @hannahfmuses
The Gorse in the Gloaming
Tiree, 1795 – On a remote island where superstition reigns, the discovery of a mermaid’s corpse will irrevocably alter the paths of the girls who find it: Kate in life, and Effie in death. Inspired by a real letter concerning the exhumation of a mermaid on Tiree, The Gorse in the Gloaming explores the nature of belief and belonging in the spectacular setting of the Hebrides. For readers who loved Burial Rites, Folk and The Essex Serpent.
David Gill
David is from a working class, mixed race family in Cardiff – his grandfather was black. He now lives in Hackney, London. It has gentrified around him. He is old. He has had stories published by the London Magazine, Interzone, Decongested and read at Liars League.
After
Brexit with guns. And blindness.