4thWrite prize shortlist offers up ‘daring, imaginative’ new voices

The six contenders for the short story prize for unpublished writers of colour took judges on a ‘dizzying, whirlwind tour across borders, through a gamut of emotions high and low’

The shortlist for the ninth year of the 4thWrite prize, the short story competition for unpublished writers of colour run by the publisher 4th Estate in association with the Guardian, has been unveiled.

The six shortlisted stories offer readers “heart, humour, pain, intrigue, mysticism and emotional complexity”, said judge Candice Carty-Williams, who founded the prize while working as a marketing executive at 4th Estate before going on to publish her bestselling novel Queenie.