Poet wins 2009 BBC National Short Story Award

GLASGOW-BORN award-winning poet Kate Clanchy has won the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award with her short story, “The Not-Dead and the Saved.” She was praised by the judges for her “acute control of emotional tone” and the “vividness and generosity of [her] writing.” In this story, she dissects a difficult subject matter: the charged encounters between a mother and a dying son. Clanchy is the author of three collections of poetry, Newborn, Samarkand and Slattern, and a nonfiction book, What Is She Doing Here?: A Refugee’s Story (also published as Antigona and Me). Sara Maitland, who has published six collections of stories, was judged the runner-up for her story, “Moss Witch.” Previous winners of the BBC National Short Story Award include Clare Wigfall, James Lasdun and Julian Gough.