Prize Submission 2025
Prize Submission 2025
€20 Single Entry (+ €10 every further entry)
The 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: APRIL 13th 30th 2025 (23h59 CEST)
If you’d like to own previously shortlisted stories, with submission entry you can get a free .pdf copy of Eleven Stories 2024 and €2.50 off both the full pdf bundle (2018 – 2024) as well as the print edition of Eleven Stories 2024.
Just remember to add it to the cart at the time of purchase!
If you have any issues with the submission or uploading, we made an FAQs page to help out!
FILES 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.
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‘Eleven Stories 2020’
Literary PrizeEleven Stories 2020 collects the shortlist from our third short fiction prize and is available in either:
PDF - €2.50 PRINT - €10 / a limited edition risography edition, numbered and stamped by our fine selves.
DON'T FORGET: you get €2.50 off a prize entry with your purchase!Here's what the magnificent Rachel Cusk and Niven Govinden have to say about our selection:
‘I thoroughly enjoyed reading these submissions, which surprised me with their honest poise, their integrity, and their understated adherence to the values of literature. In the hands of some of these writers, the story form was brought to bear on the modern scene in new and astute ways.’ – Rachel Cusk ‘I was bowled over by the power, inquiry, and humour of these stories. They shine brightly in the mind after reading.’ – Niven Govinden44 pages Risoprinted at Dotheprint, Barcelona
‘Eleven Stories 2022’
Literary PrizeEleven Stories 2022 collects the shortlist from our fourth short fiction prize and is available in either:
PDF - €2.50 PRINT - €11 / a limited edition copy, numbered and stamped by our fine selves
The shortlisted 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
Here's what the magnificent Rachel Cusk and Niven Govinden have to say about our 2020 selection:
‘I thoroughly enjoyed reading these submissions, which surprised me with their honest poise, their integrity, and their understated adherence to the values of literature. In the hands of some of these writers, the story form was brought to bear on the modern scene in new and astute ways.’ – Rachel Cusk ‘I was bowled over by the power, inquiry, and humour of these stories. They shine brightly in the mind after reading.’ – Niven Govinden
€2.50 – €11.00
‘Eleven Stories 2024’
.pdf + print edition
Eleven Stories, Literary Prize Eleven Stories 2024 collects the shortlist from our seventh short fiction prize and is available in either:
- PDF - €2.5 (which can be recouped against entry to the 2025 prize!)
- PRINT + PDF - €11 / a limited edition copy and the PDF to boot. **shipping is by Spanish postal service and doesn't carry tracking, which can be added for €15 on demand via email!
We're proud to present what is one of our most marvellous collections to date, including musings on menial labour under capitalism, longing, displacement, dementia, end-of-the-world hedonism, the joys of hope, and so much more.
Including work by: Sukie Wilson (WINNER), Amanda Hildebrandt (RUNNER-UP), Richie Jones (RUNNER-UP), JL Bogenschneider, Lizzie Challen Hubbard, Heather Colley, D.P. Strickland, Shane Tivenan, Aled Turner, Preeti Vangani, and Richard Westley
ABOUT THIS YEAR'S WINNING STORY:
'From the first paragraph, ‘Leaving Night Country’ catches us with its incredible narrative voice. Wilson has a keen sense of music and rhythm. We are left with a sense of wonder.' — MEGAN MCDOWELL, 2024 Judge
PLEASE NOTE: for orders over 5 copies, please contact us at hello@desperateliterature.com
€2.50 – €11.00
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