Thomas Shortlist 'Thunderingly Good Stories Written with Maturity, Flair and Confidence' AFRICANS, CANADIAN, ENGLISH AND AMERICAN UP FOR AWARD

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Byline: STEFFAN RHYS steffan.rhys@walesonline.co.uk

DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE SHORTLIST: THE AUTHORS MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD: SEATING ARRANGEMENTS Shipstead was born in Orange County, California, in 1983. She graduated in English and American Literature from Harvard in 2005 and with an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2008, where she was mentored by Zadie Smith.

Seating Arrangements is her first novel but she has written short fiction for publications such as The Virginia Quarterly Review, American Short Fiction, Glimmer Train, The Mississippi Review, and Subtropics.

DW WILSON: ONCE YOU BREAK A KNUCKLE Born and raised in Kootenay Valley, British Columbia, where his father was stationed as a corporal of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Wilson graduated with honours in Philosophy and Creative Writing from the University of Victoria and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where his mentor was Andrew …