A University of Chichester lecturer, novelist, and short story writer has been nominated for a major literary award for her latest book.

Alison MacLeod, Professor of Contemporary Fiction, was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize for All the Beloved Ghosts (Bloomsbury), a story collection which The Sunday Times called ‘emotionally powerful’ and ‘impeccably elegant’.

It was also described by Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald as ‘a far-reaching and graceful suite of short fiction, each piece touches the heart of what it means to be alive.’

Professor MacLeod is one of just five to be shortlisted for this year’s award, the only major accolade that recognises excellence in single-authored short fiction collections in the UK and Ireland.

She said: “I'm delighted and honoured. The short story is one of the most demanding and exhilarating forms of literature, and it's wonderful to see it recognised annually by The Edge Hill Prize.

“Congratulations, too, to Edge Hill University for its inspired support of short fiction in this country. Like the University of Chichester, Edge Hill has been at the forefront of a dynamic short story culture in the UK and beyond.”

Professor MacLeod, a one-time Man Booker Prize nominee for her last novel Unexploded, is one of the founders of the University of Chichester’s BA (Hons), MA, and PhD Creative Writing courses, now widely considered among the UK’s very top programmes for Creative Writing.

The courses are the basis of the new South Coast Creative Writing Hub, which sits at the heart of a vibrant literature scene spanning southern England and is composed of internationally-recognised authors, including Professor MacLeod. The Hub is also home to Thresholds: a global digital platform for short story writers and students. A short story masterclass between Professor MacLeod and acclaimed debut writer and Chichester PhD student Zoe Gilbert is available on its website at thresholds.chi.ac.uk.

The Edge Hill Prize nomination continues a successful few months for Professor MacLeod and All the Beloved Ghosts, which was shortlisted for the internationally-renowned Governor General’s Award in late 2017. More recently, she won a major Arts Council England funding award for Thresholds, a site she created in 2010 for the university.

Her story ‘We Are Methodists’ has been selected for the anthology Best British Short Stories 2018, out this month with Salt Publishing.

Also, her latest story, The Gleaning, set on a boat trip to a wind-farm off Sussex, aired on BBC Radio 4 and was a Radio 4 ‘Pick of the Week’. The 15-minute broadcast is available at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7hq2z.

Speaking of the award nominations, Professor MacLeod said: “As a writer you put everything into your work. Being nominated for international awards - knowing that people, far and wide, read and imaginatively ‘enter into’ the worlds you create – is a gift for a writer.”

On Saturday 8 September, Professor MacLeod will be delivering a talk entitled Making Time: Writers, Time and Literary Creation. The lecture is part of an Italian public conference, The Mystery of Time, at the Pari Center in Pari, Tuscany, Italy. All are welcome.