The Sea in Birmingham — Gaynor Arnold

An anthology of 22 stories set in the West Midlands and written by past and present members of the influential Tindal Street Fiction Group. Some authors ( e.g. Annie Murray, Amanda Smyth, Alan Beard, Gaynor Arnold, Joel Lane, Mick Scully, Mez Packer, Jackie Gay) are published novelists or story-writers. Others like Sibyl Ruth, Charles Wilkinson, Roz Goddard and Polly Wright are better-known as poets or dramatists. Fiona Joseph has written biography, Julia Bell writes teenage fiction and Luke Brown and Kavita Bhanot have both been editors as well as writers. New names included are Kit de Waal, Natalie White, James B Goodwin, Anthony Ferner, Georgina Bruce and Ryan Davis. Thje title story by Mick Scully has been chosen by Nicholas Royle for 'Best Short Stories of 2013'.