CLARE REDDAWAY

OTHER RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:​

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• Second novel Tarnish long listed for the Exeter Novel Prize. 

• Proud to be the winner of the first Axe River Books short story prize. The beautiful anthology, which includes my story, is out now. Judge Mel Greenwood said my story was 'one of the most powerful and beautiful stories' she'd ever read. 

• Short story collection 'Mouthy' long listed for the Cinnamon Press New Voices award, April 2024. 'Mouthy' will be published by Axe River Books in 2025. 

• Story-walk news: I am currently creating a new story-walk for the May 2025 Bath Fringe 'A Story-Walk Through The Pleasure Gardens'. Tickets available to buy now.  

• I'm re-leading my story-walk on the Clifton and Durdham Downs in Bristol on Sunday 11th May. Tickets available soon from Avon Gorge Wildlife.

• Can't wait? I am taking bookings for story-walks for private groups. Get in touch if you are interested in your very own tour. 

• My story walks are now available in print. Buy my Clifton Story Walk here. 

• Selected as one of the writers on LitWorks' first talent development programme for south-west writers WordSpace 2022-2023. Short listed for the Word Factory Apprentice Award 2021 

• Long listed (in the top 50 stories) for the BBC National Short Story Award 2021

• Short listed for the Bridport Short Story Prize 2020

• Stand-alone short The Guts of a Mackerel published by Fly on the Wall Press in 2021.

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MORE NEWS: 

Theatre West:

Delighted that my play Storm is one of eight plays to be selected by the wonderful Alison and Ann of Theatre West as part of their Coralations season. Storm will have a public rehearsed reading at the Bristol Old Vic in May, and I will then receive a six month development package to write a one hour script for the end of December 2025. Hurrah! 

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Workshops:

I run monthly creative writing workshops on Zoom and have done since we went online in 2020. The workshops are a mixture of skills and inspiration, and aim to be supportive and fun for writers at all levels of experience. I also run a short story discussion group that has proved very popular. There's further information here.  Let me know if you'd like to be kept informed about upcoming workshops.

 

I'm happy to discuss providing a bespoke in-person workshop for your writing group or organisation. 'All members of our group enjoyed your workshop immensely,' said one group leader recently. 'The two hours seemed to fly by.'

 

I recently compiled a list of my favourite short stories for the wonderful Personal Anthology site. It's like Desert Island Disks for short stories. You can read it here. 

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Story Walks:

I have created and led a number of story walks in Clifton in Bristol, and now in my home town of Bath. Audiences seem to enjoy them: "I was transported," "we loved every moment of it", and "you have a magical way of storytelling" are just some of the responses. I've got a few coming up in May if you'd like to come along. I am available to lead groups on a story walk of their choice - have a look at the selection here and get in touch if you'd like more information. ​

 

Pubs and Potatoes, Giants and Geniuses, a story-walk around Irish Bristol. I led the walk during Bristol's St Patrick's Day celebrations, having been commissioned to create the story-walk for the West of England Irish Culture Festival. Over 120 walkers have now joined me to explore the hidden histories of the Irish diaspora in Bristol. They seemed to enjoy themselves: 'emotive animated storytelling which really brought the history to life', 'fascinating' and 'a story stroll for the soul'.  I recently read one of the stories to the Irish Deputy Ambassador on her visit to Bristol. I was delighted to be told that the story was 'spellbinding.'

 

Publications and comps:

• My greedy little story 'Moderation' was published by Epoque Press in their Hunger E-Zine, March 2025. Have a read here. 

• My strange flooded story Water Rising, set on the Somerset Levels, was published in 2024 and available to read at Crayon Magazine. Crayon Magazine seems to have vanished, sadly, so I will have to find a new home for my watery tale.

• My story The Acorn Vase was published in a lovely new illustrated anthology Botanical Short Stories, (2024, History Press). It's a gorgeous book, full of excellent stories of gardens and plants.

• My story The Tea Dance was published in The London Independent Story Prize (LISP)'s latest anthology.

• Other recent publications include pieces in Porridge Magazine, in new Bristol-based Oranges Journal and on comedy website Funny Pearls. 

• My story The Stoat was shortlisted for the Parracombe Prize and was published in their anthology.

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Plays:

My play Flotsam was selected as one of the plays developed by Theatre West as part of their Zooming Ahead project in 2021. I worked on the play with Theatre West and dramaturg Marietta Kirkbride and had a full reading of the play on zoom. The play was selected by a local Bath theatre group for a rehearsed reading.

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Wild and Precious: my first solo show. At the Theatre Royal Bath (upstairs!) as part of the Elevate Festival, March 2023. I had a full house! People seemed to enjoy my leopards, seaweeds and face masks as I wrestled with how to make our lives more wild and precious. 

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Unpleasantville, Bath

I'm so pleased to be included in the v cool Unpleasantville Bath sonic walk created by Kim Halliday. Walk and listen, or listen at home to fun history, local music and me! I'm in the 11th blue circle (very Dante) or you can stand and listen in situ on Royal Avenue.

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Live Lit:

I joined fellow writer Philip Douch for his show last year at Burdall's Yard in Bath and again later on in his tour in Chipping Sodbury and Wooten Edge. I recently participated in a fab new live short story event, Fresh Fiction, run by Grace Palmer of Novel Nights. One of the audience members said of my story 'Green Roofs': Lovely evocation of hope and the power of kindness – beautifully paced. I'm glad they enjoyed it.

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Podcast:

I've got another story on the Unbound podcast series. A Long Way From Home is available to listen to here. It is read by Rebecca Charles, sound edited by Mark Lingwood and produced by Tempest Productions.  Tempest also recorded my story Living in The Shadow of Venus, which you can listen to here. The Unbound series of stories are all well worth a listen.

 

BBC Radio:

I regularly have stories broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol Upload. Recently Adam Crowther repeated my story 'For Those In Peril On The Sea', in celebration of broadcasting from the Sea Monster in Weston Super Mare. When he played my story A Long Way From Home, he said  'one of the finest writers we've had on Uploader', which was lovely. He also broadcast and enjoyed my story King Arthur Fights The Corona Dragon. And Lancelot Comes Too, Dammit. 'A masterclass in storytelling,' he said. During lockdown I wrote three stories that were selected to be played and Adam has also broadcast Living in the Shadow of Venus and The Winter's Egg. He's also chosen a couple of funny stories including The Witch, "It put a right smile on my face," said Adam, and No Animals Were Hurt In The Writing Of This Story: 'Lovely story that had me belly laughing today', said Adam.

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BBC Upload Festival:

Participated as a panellist in this excellent festival on BBC Radio. Ran a workshop which seemed to go down well. Attendees took to Twitter and said: Great writing workshop, loved the writing exercises and great writing advice! | Very informative | Really useful exercises, tips and motivation. Got my mojo back!  And my favourite: 'Superb!'​

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#WhereTo:

Very proud to be selected by Documental Theatre to be one of the south-west artists featured in their #WhereTo campaign. You can view my contribution in their compilation here, but I'd highly recommend watching all the films - they're an incredibly impressive snapshot of the fantastic variety of work going on in this region. 

 

Anthology:

Fairlight Books have published a short story of mine, Touching The Sun, in their first anthology of short stories. It's rather a delicious book, have a look here.  I have a number of stories on the Fairlight short story portal including The Garden, which they chose as their story of the week and The Winter Egg which appeared at Easter. The Winter Egg is about the female designer of one of Faberge's Imperial Easter eggs, and was inspired by a trip to St Petersburg. Touching The Sun  was the first of my stories Fairlight published. ​

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Lockdown competition:

My story The Longest Journey won the B&NES Libraries Lockdown competition. The story was recorded by Bel Mooney and has been published on the Papernations website as part of their Great Margins project. The judges said that the story 'caught their attention, finding light, hope and happier days where there only seemed despair'. You can read it here or listen to Bel Mooney reading it here.  It was also broadcast on BBC Radio Bristol (read by me this time). 'Beautiful fiction,' said Adam Crowther, 'Absolutely lovely.'

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Bath Radio:

I was involved in Bath Radio's Literature Festival. A Word In Your Ear curated five short fictions from Story Friday writers, including one of mine. I interviewed the brilliant crime writer Sarah Hilary, and I was interviewed in turn by Elaine Miles. 

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