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Tracey Slaughter wins the 2024 Moth Short Story Prize
New Zealand author Tracey Slaughter’s "reasons to end us (an aerial view)" has been crowned winner of the £3,000 Moth Short Story Prize.
Dublin-based writer June Caldwell won second place for "Catastrophic", while third prize went to "Gertrude’s Favourite Pfeffernüsse" by the American author Melanie McGee Bianchi.
Louise Kennedy, award-winning author and judge, said: "Reading the entries reminded me of how delicate and marvellous a thing a good short story is, no other form can carry such emotional heft in so few words."
Slaughter’s "reasons to end us (an aerial view)" was chosen as the overall winner because she said "the narrator’s voice in this exceptional work is so insistent, so intense, reading it literally took my breath away".
Kennedy added: "There is extraordinary control here, but what really sets this short story apart is timing; details—startling in their originality—explode like little bombs and revelations land at precisely the right moment."
Slaughter, a poet, essayist and fiction writer from New Zealand was awarded second prize in 2018 for "Postcards are a Thing of the Past" and her work has won numerous other awards. She lives in Kirikiriroa, where she teaches creative writing at the University of Waikato and edits the journals Mayhem and Poetry Aotearoa. Slaughter will be awarded €3,000 and her story will be published as part of the summer fiction series in the Irish Times.
Caldwell came in second place for, "Catastrophic", winning a week at the luxury writing retreat, Circle of Misse, in France. Her story was praised by Kennedy for "its playful, punny title and frank opening". She added: "The writing has tremendous verve, the imagery surprises, and I love the original and demotic use of language, rich with Dorothy Parker level quips. The final communications with the ex are desperately sad, yet lifted by dark humour, acceptance, and the spectre of the poor wise cat."
Caldwell, who lives in Dublin, was also a winner of the Moth Short Story Prize in 2014, is the author of short story collection Room Little Darker (Bloomsbury) and her début novel Little Town Moone is forthcoming from John Murray. Her essays and short stories have been published in numerous anthologies and journals.
McGee Bianchi won €1,000 for third place for "Gertrude’s Favourite Pfeffernüsse". Kennedy said: "This is an artfully drawn portrait of someone who is rather less than they thought they would be," says Kennedy. She described the story as "poignant, funny and emotionally astute".
A journalist and short story writer from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, McGee Bianchi edits two regional magazines, Asheville Made and Carolina Home & Garden, and her work has appeared in various literary magazines.
