09 October 2013
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Sarah Hall wins £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award
Her winning story, Mrs Fox, was announced on BBC Radio 4's Front Row last night ...
Her winning story, Mrs Fox, was announced on BBC Radio 4's Front Row last night
Mrs Fox is a story about a woman who turns into a fox, to the confusion of her husband.
Chair of judges Mariella Frostrup said: 'We were all seduced by our winning story. The poetic use of language, the dexterity and originality of the prose made Sarah Hall's Mrs Fox utterly unique. Inspired by the classic literary motif of metamorphosis, this thoroughly modern interpretation asks unsettling questions about our relationships to each other and to the natural world, an environment we are increasingly alienated from but continue to be compelled by. Mrs Fox is firmly rooted in reality but with its liberal dash of magical thinking transports its readers way beyond it.'
Lucy Wood was the £3,000 runner up with Notes From the House Spirits, a story taken from her debut short story collection, Diving Belles.
The other writers on the BBC National Short Story Award's all-female shortlist, who each received £500, were Lisa Blower, Lavinia Greenlaw and Lionel Shriver.
Mrs Fox is a story about a woman who turns into a fox, to the confusion of her husband.
Chair of judges Mariella Frostrup said: 'We were all seduced by our winning story. The poetic use of language, the dexterity and originality of the prose made Sarah Hall's Mrs Fox utterly unique. Inspired by the classic literary motif of metamorphosis, this thoroughly modern interpretation asks unsettling questions about our relationships to each other and to the natural world, an environment we are increasingly alienated from but continue to be compelled by. Mrs Fox is firmly rooted in reality but with its liberal dash of magical thinking transports its readers way beyond it.'
Lucy Wood was the £3,000 runner up with Notes From the House Spirits, a story taken from her debut short story collection, Diving Belles.
The other writers on the BBC National Short Story Award's all-female shortlist, who each received £500, were Lisa Blower, Lavinia Greenlaw and Lionel Shriver.
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