Dr Fiona Ennis, a lecturer on the BA Arts in SETU, has been selected as a runner-up in the prestigious Seán Ó’ Faoláin International Short Story Competition.
‘The veil is thinning out’
The competition, in honour of Seán Ó’ Faoláin, one of Ireland’s most celebrated short story writers, attracts entries from all over the world each year.
‘The veil is thinning out’ by Dr Ennis was selected by judge Camilla Grudova. Grudova is the author of The Doll’s Alphabet, Children of Paradise, and The Coiled Serpent. In 2023, Grudova was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, a list that is compiled only once a decade.
Commenting on the selection of her story, Dr Ennis said, “I very much admire Camilla’s writing, so I feel so honoured that she has selected my story.”
Other success
Dr Ennis has achieved other success with her writing. She has won the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award and was one of the winners of the 2021 Fish Short Story Prize. She was awarded second place in the 2022 LA-based Screen Craft Cinematic Short Story Competition.
Her work has been shortlisted for other international awards, including the Bristol Short Story Prize, the Alpine Fellowship Writing Award, the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award and the Aurora Prize for Writing. She is the recipient of an Agility Award from the Irish Arts Council.
Her short stories have been published in journals and anthologies. She is a member of the English and Theatre Studies team at SETU. Her story, ‘The veil is thinning out’ will be published next summer in the literary journal Southword.
