26 Oct RHYS DAVIES SHORT STORY AWARD 2025
On Monday 20 October, a new anthology featuring short stories by the 12 finalists of the prestigious Rhys Davies National Short Story Competition 2025 was launched at Waterstones, Swansea.
Alongside stories by Ralph Bolland, Alan Bryant, Miranda Davies, Jonathan Edwards, Sybilla Harvey, Natalie Ann Holborow, Kate Lockwood Jefford, Keza O’Neill, Jonathan Page, and Tess Powell, ‘The Man on the Train’ anthology features a story by Wales Book of the Year shortlisted writer Sian Hughes.
Sian Hughes said: “I was thrilled to be shortlisted for the competition, which is in honour of one of my favourite short story writers, Rhys Davies, a darkly comic writer not unlike Chekhov who examines everyday human frailty with exuberance, and a touch of the grotesque.”
“In my story, Fat Slug Lady, a reclusive young woman with an unspecified condition buys a giant African land snail as an antidote to her loneliness. When the snail goes missing, she is forced to leave the house, following his trail into an otherworldly garden opposite her house, a journey which compels her to confront the source of her condition.”
Edited by Dr Elaine Canning, Director of Swansea University’s Cultural Institute, the collection also includes an introduction by acclaimed fiction writer and guest judge Cynan Jones.
Cynan Jones said: “Reading through this year’s entries, I was struck by the trepidation, either deep or overt, that seemed to shadow many of the stories. A shared sense across the entries of writing into an uncertain world. The twelve pieces chosen as finalists deal with this trepidation in different ways, sometimes anarchic, sometimes poignant, brutal, thoughtful. Even with hope and subversive delight. But in each case with ambition in the narrative, and skill in the words themselves.”
The Rhys Davies Competition finalists.
‘The Man on the Train’ can be purchased from Parthian Books here.
For more on the Rhys Davies Short Story competition, which is managed by Swansea University on behalf of the Rhys Davies Trust, in association with Parthian Books, click the link.