The Rhys Davies Short Story Award Anthology 2026 - Launch Event

Waterstones Swansea is launching The Rhys Davies Short Story Award Anthology 2026 on Wednesday 28 October, from 18:00 to 19:00. It's a Cultural Institute event, put on in partnership with the Rhys Davies Trust and Parthian Books, and it's run in English.

The anthology brings together the shortlisted stories and the overall winner of the 2026 Rhys Davies Short Story Competition, which was judged by Tyler Keevil. On the night, Keevil will be there alongside editor Elaine Canning, the finalists, and the overall winner to talk through the collection. It's a good chance to hear from the people who actually wrote the stories and the judge who picked them.

Canning describes the collection as taking you across parts of Wales and further afield, with stories set in Italy and the US. The themes run through environmental challenges, the natural world, and the folkloric, alongside complex parent-child relationships and the contrast between rural and urban landscapes. If you're into short fiction, that's a fair bit of ground to cover in one volume.

The venue itself is part of the draw: Waterstones occupies The Old Carlton Cinema, a grade 2 listed art nouveau former cinema that the shop describes as 'a second home to many of the book-lovers of South Wales'. It's at 17 Oxford Street, SA1 3AG. Tickets are free, and the event runs from 18:00 to 19:00.