RT SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2024: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

IMPRESSIVE STORIES EXPLORING HUMAN CONNECTION SHOW WEALTH OF WRITING TALENT IN IRELAND

WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT SPECIAL AWARDS EVENT ON FRIDAY 29TH NOVEMBER

BROADCAST ON RT RADIO 1'S ARENA ON MONDAY 2ND DECEMBER (7PM)

DETAILS: www.rte.ie/writing

TICKETS: https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/events/view/arenalive

FOLLOW: #rteshortstory

RT has announced details of the ten exciting new stories which have been shortlisted for the RT Short Story Competition 2024 in honour of Francis MacManus, from close to 1,500 entries submitted.

The judges were writers Neil Hegarty, Claire Kilroy and Kathleen MacMahon.

The shortlisted stories, in alphabetical order by story title are:

Artifice, by Sharon Guard

Chambermaid, by Fiona O'Connor

Dead Bait, by Mattie Brennan

Dessie and Hopper, by Susanne Stich

Divination, by Stephen O'Reilly

Once Upon an Algorithm, by Ryan Delaney

Planning the Leftovers, by Sheila Barrett

The Other rla, by Emer O'Toole

The Rehearsal, by Alexis MacIsaac

Turncoat, by David Ralph

***Information about the writers and their stories are included in the NOTES below, along with the RT Radio 1 broadcast schedule.

Neil Hegarty, who joined the judging panel this year said: I'm deeply impressed by the entries submitted this year. Quite simply, it's so heartening to see the sheer quality of writing on display. I'm also struck by how these stories track emotional lives in all their variety and complexity: art acts as a barometer of society, of course, but it seems to me that the RTE Short Story Competition in particular truly mirrors the preoccupations of our society in the here and now.

Fellow judge Claire Kilroy added: There were several recurrent themes: grief, sexual politics and the differences between male and female worlds

Judge Kathleen MacMahon commented that: human connection was the subject of almost every story we read this year - the need for it, the obstacles to it. In exploring this fundamental theme, this year's Francis Mac Manus finalists showed us once again the wealth of writing talent that exists in Ireland and the ever-renewing energy to explore the landscape of our lives through words.

All ten stories will be published on rte.ie/culture on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November, and broadcast (read by actors) over the course of the following two weeks, from Monday 18th November on RT Radio 1's Late Date. They'll also be featured regularly on RT Radio 1's Arena in advance of the awards event an RT Radio 1 Arena special programme, presented by Se n Rocks at the Pavilion Theatre in D n Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, at 7pm on Friday 29th November, which all the shortlisted writers are invited to attend. The event will feature readings of extracts from all ten shortlisted stories, each followed by a discussion with all three judges before they award their top prizes.

The winning writer will receive 5,000, while the second and third placed writers will receive 4,000 and 3,000 respectively. All seven runners-up will receive 250 each.

The RT Radio 1 Arena special will be broadcast at 7pm on Monday 2nd December 2024.

Tickets for that event are now on sale here

Sarah Binchy, series producer said: This is another delightfully fresh and varied clutch of stories, with great talent and verve on display from this year's writers. We're looking forward to sharing the stories on rte.ie/culture, on air and on podcast, voiced by some of Ireland's finest actors - and gathering in person with the judges, writers and audience members to award the top prizes as part of the Arena short story finale in the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire on Friday 29th November.

Set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, the RT Short Story Competition has been a critically important launch pad for new and emerging writers in Ireland. Past winners and shortlisted writers include Claire Keegan, Molly McCloskey, Danielle McLaughlin, Anthony Glavin, Chris Binchy, Nuala O'Connor, Liz Nugent, Colin Walsh, Stephen Walsh, Austin Duffy and Sarah Gilmartin.

The RT Short Story Competition is free to enter, and open to any writer over 18 living on the island of Ireland, or living abroad who holds an Irish passport. Details of next year's competition will be announced in early 2025. For more on the RT Short Story Competition, see www.rte.ie/writing.

ENDS

For information: Neil O'Gorman, Corporate Communications Manager, RT | E: neil.ogorman@rte.ie

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT THE WRITERS AND STORIES (Alphabetical order by writer's first name)

ALEXIS MACISAAC (Irish Canadian, living in Ottawa)

Alexis MacIsaac is a dual Irish Canadian citizen whose writing has been featured in Masks Literary Magazine (2023 story award winner), The Bookends Review, and Agnes and True, among others. She previously toured as a musician with Irish shows Riverdance and The High Kings. Now, she works in the civil service in Domestic Oceans Policy and lives in Ottawa with her husband, Calum, and two sons, Cillian and Rafferty. She is currently working on her first novel.

The Rehearsal

This story is meant to be read as a kind of Rorschach test. In particular, I wanted to explore how men and women can sometimes view the world very differently, and how this difference in perception often exposes the tenuousness of human connection.

DAVID RALPH (Tipperary, living in Dublin)

David Ralph is originally from Tipperary and now lives in Dublin. His stories and essays have been published in Dublin Review, Southword, Banshee, New Irish Writing, Litro, Fish Anthology, Channel. He won a New Irish Writing Award in 2020 and placed third in the 2022 Fish Memoir Prize. He works as an academic in Trinity College Dublin.

Turncoat

Turncoat is about a man who has acted against

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