October 2025
Best British Short Stories 2025 was reviewed in the Manchester Review
Here’s what the reviewers said about my story ‘Ghost Walks’:
“Another unusually surprising story was Ian Critchley’s, ‘Ghost Walks’, telling the story of a woman having a moment of Déjà vu as she revisits York, where she once spent her student days and met her future husband. What, at surface level, can be read as a deceptively simple ghost story turns into a complex exploration of identity, marriage and retrospection on the lives we thought we would live in the halcyon days of youth.”
October 2025
Best British Short Stories 2025, including my story ‘Ghost Walks’ is now published! Available from all good bookshops and direct from the publisher, Salt Books
July 2025
My short story ‘Ghost Walks’ has been selected for this year’s Best British Short Stories anthology! Until 31 July it can be pre-ordered at 25% discount from Waterstones.
October 2024
‘Ghost Walks’ has just been published in the new Fiction Desk anthology Inside Voices. It can be purchased here
May 2024
My ghost story ‘Ghost Walks’ has been selected to appear in the forthcoming anthology Inside Voices, published by The Fiction Desk
February 2024
Nightjar Press have published my short story chapbook, ‘Removals’. It can be purchased here
August 2023
My story Notes on a ‘Masterpiece’ has been selected as the Willesden Herald Story of the Month. It can be read here.
June 2023
‘Eastbound, Westbound’ is published in Lighthouse. I’ll be reading from the story at the online launch on 22 June. Book your free tickets here.
April 2023
My story ‘The Final Front Ear’ has been shortlisted for the Plaza Prize.
February 2023
I will be at the Hammond House Publishing Annual Literary Festival at the University Centre Grimsby to pick up my prize for winning their International Literary Award.
December 2022
My Joe Wicks-inspired story ‘High-Intensity Interval Training’ has been shortlisted for the Hammond House International Literary Award.
UPDATE: It won! See the full list of winners here
December 2022
My Eurovision-themed short story ‘Nul Points’ has been shortlisted for the Exeter Story Prize.
December 2021
The launch of the anthology Sunburnt Saints will take place on 9 December at Blackwells Liverpool. It’s a long way from home, but what the hell – I will be there. More details here:
November 2021
Here’s the podcast of the Sunburnt Saints episode of the Chiltern Voice Book Club. I’m on about halfway through, talking about writing, power cuts, When the Wind Blows and Kate Bush: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/chiltern-voice-book-club/id1540563708?i=1000543272780
November 2021
Two radio shows will celebrate the launch of the Sunburnt Saints anthology. On Saturday 20th, the Roaring 20s show on Soho Radio, London (https://sohoradiolondon.com/profile/roaring-20s-radio/) will feature various readings from the anthology, while on Sunday 28th, Antonia Honeywell will dedicate her weekly Book Club show on Chiltern Voice to the anthology (https://www.chilternvoice.fm). You might even get to hear me on both! The shows will be available afterwards as podcasts.
November 2021
Sunburnt Saints, which includes my story ‘Outage’, is being published on 30 November. It can be pre-ordered exclusively from the independent bookstore The Big Green Bookshop:
October 2021
‘Uffington’ has won the 2021 HISSAC short story award! You can read it here: http://www.hissac.co.uk/uploads/Shorts2021.pdf
October 2021
‘Uffington’ has moved on to the shortlist of the HISSAC short story award! Now down to the final ten stories.
October 2021
My story ‘Uffington’ has been longlisted for both the Cambridge Short Story Prize and for the HISSAC short story award.
November 2020
Vision, the anthology of the 2020 H.G. Wells Short Story Competition, is now available to purchase from the following places:
November 2020
I’ll be reading from my story ‘Hillman’s Imp’ as part of the Zoom awards ceremony for the 2020 H.G. Wells Short Story Competition.
September 2020
My short story ‘Hillman’s Imp’ has been shortlisted for the 2020 H.G. Wells Short Story Competition.
August 2019
Two of my flash fictions have been accepted for publication – ‘The Last Summer’ will be published by Ellipsis Zine in mid-August, while ‘Stub’ will appear in Lucent Dreaming in September.
October 2018
The Mechanics Institute Review team will be hosting a one-day festival celebrating short stories at Waterstones Gower Street on Saturday 13th October, featuring readings, a talk by Julia Bell on how to write a great short story, and a panel discussion on the contemporary short story landscape. Full details here
September 2018
I’ll be reading from my story ‘The Hole’ at the next MIRLive event on Monday 1st October at The Harrison in King’s Cross, London. Full details here
September 2018
The Mechanics’ Institute Review #15 is now published and can be bought from the following outlets:
Ian Critchley 