Belfast author Lucy Caldwell wins national short story award

Lucy Caldwell had previously been shortlisted for the award twice

A Belfast author has won a national award for her short story of a mother on a trans-Atlantic flight with her toddler daughter.

Lucy Caldwell won the 16th BBC National Short Story Award for All the People Were Mean And Bad.

The judges praised her "masterful storytelling" and "deep truthfulness".

Caldwell said she likes to set stories in "in-between spaces" like airports or on car journeys where time seems to stop for a while.

Taken from her collection, Intimacies, she told Good Morning Ulster her editor entered the story for the award, having previously been shortlisted in 2012 and 2019.

"He said he loved this story, so I have him to thank," she added.

"It's a story that I thought about for a very long time before actually writing.

"I think I sort of turned it over in my mind for maybe a year before I could finally hear the tone of it.

"As soon as I could hear the tone of it, I think I wrote the first draft of it in a couple of days."

Motherhood and short stories

With two children aged seven and four, Caldwell added that her own experiences as a mother played a key role in her writing.

"I think as a writer you use what you have, you use the material that you have to hand," she said.

"I hadn't written that many short stories before having children, partly they didn't work, I didn't have enough technique and craft to make them work.

"But then I started to have that.

"I couldn't concentrate on a novel, a novel requires you to just plug away at it every single day.

"There was something about the short story format that seemed to fit with the short bits of time I had and the urgency of the time.

"So I found that motherhood was really conducive to my writing short stories."

'Daring and authenticity'

All the People Were Mean And Bad was praised by the judges for "masterful storytelling", 'deep truthfulness" and "deft precision".

Chair of judges, James Runcie said: "Lucy Caldwell's story has a confidence, daring and authenticity that is wonderfully sustained.

"All five of the stories on our shortlist were excellent, but this totally assured and moving piece of storytelling commanded the award."

Caldwell beat stories by novelist, playwright and screenwriter Rory Gleeson; Orange Prize shortlisted writer Georgina Harding; former postal worker and creative writing lecturer Danny Rhodes and journalist, novelist and Mastermind finalist Richard Smyth.

The winning writer receives £15,000 and the four shortlisted writers are given £600 each.