Short Story 2026
Moby Dick: Adults’ Short Story Writing
This year, the festival is celebrating the 70th anniversary of Moby Dick, the Hollywood film starring 1950s heartthrob Gregory Peck, which was filmed around Fishguard and Goodwick. It was adapted from the novel by Herman Melville: an epic tale of Captain Ahab’s obsessive quest for vengeance against a giant white sperm whale that had bitten his leg off on a previous voyage. D H Lawrence called it ‘one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world’ and ‘the greatest book of the sea ever written.’
We invite writers to submit their own pieces of fictional prose – up to 3,000 words – that respond in some way to Moby Dick: the novel or the film. How you may interpret this is completely open: you may choose a reworking of one of the characters or one of the incidents in the narrative; or you could write exploring the same themes that the novel raises; or about a character’s own experience relating to reading the novel or seeing the film…. There are endless possibilities.
The competition will be judged by Robert Harries, the fiction editor of Folding Rock, Wales’ leading magazine of creative prose: see foldingrock.com.
The closing date for entries is Friday 17th July 2026, at 5pm.
A prize of £100 will be awarded for the best entry. There is a fee of £5 to enter the competition, with all proceeds going towards providing literary events at Ar Ymyl y Tir 2026 On Land’s Edge. The winners will be announced at the final event of the Festival on Sunday 27th September.
Terms and Conditions
The short story prize is open to writers of any nationality writing in English aged 16 and over at the time of the closing date.
The maximum word limit is 3000 words.
Entry must be made via email to shortstory@theatrgwaun.com
Each entrant may submit only one story.
Stories with joint authorship are ineligible. Entries must be entirely your own work.
Entries must not have been published or self-published in any form, in print or online, or have won or been placed in any other competition.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed but will become ineligible should they win a prize elsewhere, be published or scheduled for publication prior to the date of prize giving. Entry fees will not be refunded.
Please inform us immediately should your entry be published or win a prize elsewhere.
