‘Eleven Stories’
‘Eleven Stories’
—SOLD OUT—
Eleven Stories collects the shortlist from our first short fiction prize into a limited edition risograph booklet ready for your reading pleasure.
Here’s what the magnificent Eley Williams has to say about our selection:
‘This brilliant shortlist celebrates everything that I value in literature — its demands, its affirmations, its possibilities. Linguistically playful, narratively deft: each story demonstrated the ways in which writing’s verve can thrill in the vein and trill on the ear. It was incredibly difficult to find winners: all of the writers’ entries were assured in their teetering, fiery in their freshness and bold in their complexity and should be congratulated and thanked.’
Out of stock
Eleven Stories 2021 – 2023
Literary Prize
The Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction is an international award for innovative new writing.
The last three years of Eleven Stories contain some of the best contemporary short fiction.
2023 prize judged by:
Mariana Enríquez, Ottessa Moshfegh, & Tiffany Tsao.
Works by:
Campbell Andersen, Jan Carson, N G F Clark, Paige Cowan-Hall, Phillippa Finkemeyer, Hadley Franklin, Jack Gain, Jay Gao, Samuel Glyn, Katie Hale, Annie Hayter, Grace Henes, Mia-Francesca Jones, Isha Karki, Stephen Lynch, Victoria Manifold, Evan Martinak, Andrea Mason, Ananya Mishra, Dipika Mukherjee, Nick Mulgrew, Connor Oswald, Nicholas Petty, Young Rader, Mariana Roa Oliva, David Ryan, Erin Scudder, Avigayl Sharp, Dizz Tate, Siri Katinka Valdez, Gavin Weale, Naomi Wood, Jona Xhepa.
€25.00
€25 for the 2021, 2022, & 2023 anthologies Books will be shipped once the 2023 anthology is delivered in November 2023
ABOUT THE 2023 SHORTLIST:
‘There is such energy in these stories. Such pulse!’ - TIFFANY TSAO, 2023 Judge
‘I like this prize especially because it’s so international. The voices aren’t coming from a limited cultural perspective, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s a breadth of wider experiences by the writers. They’re conveying something, and I think conveying something with urgency.’ - OTTESSA MOSHFEGH, 2023 Judge
ABOUT THE 2023 WINNING STORY:
‘['Falling' is] a story I haven’t read before: a story of loss, focused not on grief but on how others make use of the depth and power of death [...] beautiful in its economy, not a word too long or short. Moving, and yet very quiet. Precise and relaxed.’ — OTTESSA MOSHFEGH, 2023 Judge
‘honest and sensual [...] carrying a slight but intense wickedness.’ — MARIANA ENRÍQUEZ, 2023 Judge
ABOUT THE 2022 SHORTLIST:
'The stories were exquisitely written and completely delightful in their power to surprise and astonish in a remarkably few number of words. Reading these stories made me feel glad for the future of short stories and excited me for reading more. I hope other readers feel the same way.' - ANTON HUR
'In these rich and vibrant stories, the language surprises and delights. From surreal mouse proposals to the catharsis of visible grief, via the uncertainty of memory and perception, each of these stories creates a new, engrossing reality, while shedding light on our own.' - NATASHA BROWN
ABOUT THE 2021 SHORTLIST:
‘I loved reading the shortlist selection which realizes the Desperate Literature team’s ambition to reimagine and diversify contemporary writing. The stories represented are inquisitive, irreverential, critical, and fully committed to their respective creative projects. I’ve never been more hopeful for the future of fiction, and the Desperate Literature Prize plays no small part in this.’ — Isabel Waidner, 2021 Judge
€25.00
‘Eleven Stories 2025’
.pdf + print edition (pre-order)
Eleven Stories, Literary Prize, Literature 'Generous, soulful distillations. A tasting flight of prosaic kerosene. Each story ignited a flare in a forsaken corner of my mind. I can’t wait to experience more from these voices.' —Henry Hoke
‘Wonderful: some very subtle, intimate and beautiful, others wildly imaginative and deeply thoughtful.’ —Ottessa Moshfegh
Eleven Stories 2025 collects the shortlist from our eighth short fiction prize and is available in either:- PDF - €2.5
- PRINT + PDF - €11 / a limited edition copy and the PDF to boot. (PRINT EDITION DUE EARLY OCTOBER) **shipping is by Spanish postal service and doesn't carry tracking, which can be added for €15 on demand via email!
One of our most exciting selections yet, our 2025 shortlist covers a spectrum of experimental and boundary pushing fiction. From a Faulknerian river story to the lushest, queerest body horror — from cross-country feminist malaise to cross-border love — prophets, mothers, labourers — a tedious apocalypse, post-capitalist hope — these eleven stories are brimming with magic, longing, and humour. Including work by:
Shastri Akella (WINNER), Swithun Cooper (RUNNER-UP), Alisha Dietzman (RUNNER-UP), Chloe Agar, Sohini Basak, Shelley Hastings (EU SALON PRIZE), Miguel Arroyo, Matthew Kinlin, Iseult de Mallet Burgess, Fox McGlasson, and Juan Fernando Villagómez (DL RESIDENCY PRIZE) ABOUT THIS YEAR'S WINNING STORY: ‘Tender... and haunting’ —Ottessa Moshfegh PLEASE NOTE: for orders over 5 copies, please contact us at hello@desperateliterature.com
€2.50 – €11.00
Sale
‘Bread of Angels’
(pre-order)
Eleven Stories, Literary Prize, Literature PRE-ORDER NOW with a 10% discount on orders made before November
A radiant new memoir from artist and writer Patti Smith, author of the National Book Award winner Just Kids “God whispers through a crease in the wallpaper,” writes Patti Smith in this moving account of her life. A post–World War II childhood unfolds in a condemned housing complex where we enter the child’s world of the imagination. Smith, the captain of her loyal and beloved sibling army, vanquishes bullies, communes with the king of tortoises, and searches for sacred silver pennies. This is the Bloomsbury edition (UK)
€17.10 – €28.80
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Prize Submission 2025
Literary Prize, Prize EntryThe 2024 Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction is NOW CLOSED for submissions
Before you enter, please ensure that you are eligible to enter the prize and have read our 'Eligibility & Conditions' page for the details on all the prizes. If you have any questions, you can also consult our FAQs page. Entries are limited to five pieces per person. EXTENDED DEADLINE: APRILFILES ARE UPLOADED AFTER CHECKOUT JUST SCROLL TO THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE RECEIPT PAGE
Please note: in order to benefit from the multiple entry discount, all entries must be made at the same time.
€20 Single Entry (+ €10 every further entry)