SHORT STORIES

Recent highlights:

I was long listed for the BBC National Short Story Award 2021 for my story Sorry For Your Loss. It was judged to be in the top 50 of the stories submitted.
I was shortlisted for the prestigious Word Factory Apprentice Award, 2021. A lovely recognition of my short story work.
I was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2020 for my story A Leap of Leopards. My story One Day Last Summer was in the top 7% of entries to the Bridport Prize 2022.
I was selected as one of the writers on LitWorks' first talent development programme WordSpace 2022-2023

Click here to read and here to listen to some of my stories.

Stand-alone short:

I was very pleased that Fly On The Wall Press included my long story The Guts Of A Mackerel in their limited edition Shorts Season. It was published in standalone pamphlet form in December 2021. "Clare is a genius at opening doors into her stories, in this case through the eyes of an eager young girl whose world is about to become bigger and scarier than she ever imagined. Each detail is intricate and immediate. The overall impact is emotional and longlasting. Everything a good story should be." [Sarah Hilary, bestselling author of the acclaimed DI Marnie Rome series].

My short stories have been out and about in the world.

They have won, been shortlisted, long listed and had honourable mentions in many competitions:

Bridport Short Story Prize shortlist 2020, BBC National Short Story Prize, long list 2021, Wells Short Story Prize (Wyvern Prize and first prize), Five Stop Story Competition (first prize), Momaya Press (first prize and on another occasion highly commended), Frome Short Story Prize (first and local prize), Papernations/B&NES Lockdown Competition (first prize), Yeovil Short Story Competition and Exeter Short Story Competition (both third prize), Fish Short Story Prize, Mslexia Short Story Competition, Paracombe Prize, Magic Oxygen and Bath Short Story Competition amongst others.

They have been published:

Standalone pamphlet The Guts of A Mackerel published as part of Shorts Season, Fly On the Wall Press, 2021.

In anthologies:

Fairlight Book of Short Stories, Bath Short Story Anthology, Paracombe Prize 2022, Momaya Short Story Review (twice), Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual 2020, Magic Oxygen, Leaf Books, Bridge House, Watermark, 100 Stories for Haiti.

On the web:

Porridge Magazine,Oranges Journal, Barren Magazine, Fictive Dream, Fairlight Books, Blue Nib, Storgy Magazine, Funny Pearls, eastoftheweb, etherbooks, smashwords.

In print magazines:

NB Literary Magazine, Project Calm, Vintage Magazine, Yellow Magazine, My Weekly.

They have been broadcast on local radio:

BBC Bristol (numerous times), BBC Wiltshire, Frome FM, Audiobookradio.com, Bath Radio; on a number of hospital radio stations: Bath Hospital Radio, Hospital Radio Stortford, UCL Radio; and elsewhere - I was delighted to hear recently that my story Morg had been downloaded nearly 80,000 times from Bedtime FM.

And recorded for podcasts:

Tempest Productions, Unbound

My stories have also, of course, been performed and recorded at the event that I ran with Kilter Theatre, Story Fridays.

I like reading my work to an audience, and have performed short stories at many events:

Story Fridays, Story Saturdays, Stories At The Farm, Fresh Fiction, Priston Festival, Nailsworth Festival, Debo Productions Dark Tales, BrisTales, Heads and Tales, Telltales, White Rabbit, National Flash Fiction Day, Salisbury Arts Festival, Bath Fringe Festival, Bath Festival of Literature, Frome Festival, St Ives Arts Festival, Cyprus Wells, Sparks Dartington Radio, Coleford Festival, Secret Garden Party, Green Man Festival, Feast of Stories, Gig In The House, Small Stories, He Does What?

I also like site-specific writing:

In 2023, I created two new story-walks, my third for Clifton LitFest, and my first for the West of England Irish Culture Festival. "I was transported", they said, and "Magical".
In 2022, I created a new story-walk for Clifton Village. Again it sold out, and audiences loved it. 'An absolute joy', they said. 'You have a little bit of magic about you.'
In 2021 I wrote and led a story-walk around Clifton Village in Bristol for the Clifton LitFest. I led the story-walk a number of times over 2021/2022 after it sold out.' Superb...a tour de force'.
In 2019, I curated a story walk with Kilter Theatre. We took an audience on a walk around Bath, stopping for five minute stories along the way. As it was not possible to lead live walks in 2020, I filmed the stories on this walk for the Bathscape Walking Festival. They are available here.
In 2018 I co-created Foraged Fictions with Kilter, a site-specific story promenade at National Trust property Prior Park. The event received 5*s from Theatre Bath.
In 2016, I curated, recorded and sound-edited a series of nine stories for Bath Hospital Radio, including one of my own. From Flanders Field to Bath marked the centenary of the Royal United Hospital in Bath. All of the stories were inspired by the site and by historical fact. This was the first literary commission by Bath Hospital Radio in its 50 year history.
In 2015, I curated, produced and performed at Story Friday Goes Swimming, a site-specific short story event set at and inspired by a derelict Georgian lido in Bath. It was dubbed ‘a huge success’ by the Bath Chronicle.
Also in 2015 I was a Hidden City writer-in-residence at Horizon House for the Bristol Open Doors project (Part Exchange).
I have written a number of site-specific short stories through arts company Heads and Tales, including recorded audio story-walks around areas of Bristol and Bath. One of the stories, around Temple Church in Bristol, was a sensory audio walk especially created for the visually impaired.

SHORT STORIES

Recent highlights:

I was long listed for the BBC National Short Story Award 2021 for my story Sorry For Your Loss. It was judged to be in the top 50 of the stories submitted.

I was shortlisted for the prestigious Word Factory Apprentice Award, 2021. A lovely recognition of my short story work.

I was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2020 for my story A Leap of Leopards. My story One Day Last Summer was in the top 7% of entries to the Bridport Prize 2022.

I was selected as one of the writers on LitWorks' first talent development programme WordSpace 2022-2023

​

Click here to read and here to listen to some of my stories.

​

Stand-alone short:

​

My short stories have been out and about in the world.

​

They have won, been shortlisted, long listed and had honourable mentions in many competitions:

They have been published:

Standalone pamphlet The Guts of A Mackerel published as part of Shorts Season, Fly On the Wall Press, 2021.

In anthologies:

Fairlight Book of Short Stories, Bath Short Story Anthology, Paracombe Prize 2022, Momaya Short Story Review (twice), Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual 2020, Magic Oxygen, Leaf Books, Bridge House, Watermark, 100 Stories for Haiti.

On the web:​

Porridge Magazine,Oranges Journal, Barren Magazine, Fictive Dream, Fairlight Books, Blue Nib, Storgy Magazine, Funny Pearls, eastoftheweb, etherbooks, smashwords.

In print magazines:

NB Literary Magazine, Project Calm, Vintage Magazine, Yellow Magazine, My Weekly.

They have been broadcast on local radio:

And recorded for podcasts:

Tempest Productions, Unbound

​

My stories have also, of course, been performed and recorded at the event that I ran with Kilter Theatre, Story Fridays.

​

I like reading my work to an audience, and have performed short stories at many events:

​

I also like site-specific writing:

In 2023, I created two new story-walks, my third for Clifton LitFest, and my first for the West of England Irish Culture Festival. "I was transported", they said, and "Magical".

In 2022, I created a new story-walk for Clifton Village. Again it sold out, and audiences loved it. 'An absolute joy', they said. 'You have a little bit of magic about you.'

In 2021 I wrote and led a story-walk around Clifton Village in Bristol for the Clifton LitFest. I led the story-walk a number of times over 2021/2022 after it sold out.' Superb...a tour de force'.

In 2019, I curated a story walk with Kilter Theatre. We took an audience on a walk around Bath, stopping for five minute stories along the way. As it was not possible to lead live walks in 2020, I filmed the stories on this walk for the Bathscape Walking Festival. They are available here.

In 2018 I co-created Foraged Fictions with Kilter, a site-specific story promenade at National Trust property Prior Park. The event received 5*s from Theatre Bath.

In 2015, I curated, produced and performed at Story Friday Goes Swimming, a site-specific short story event set at and inspired by a derelict Georgian lido in Bath. It was dubbed ‘a huge success’ by the Bath Chronicle.

Also in 2015 I was a Hidden City writer-in-residence at Horizon House for the Bristol Open Doors project (Part Exchange).

I have written a number of site-specific short stories through arts company Heads and Tales, including recorded audio story-walks around areas of Bristol and Bath. One of the stories, around Temple Church in Bristol, was a sensory audio walk especially created for the visually impaired.

On the web: