Cheerio Publishing, Desperate Literature and Brick Lane Bookshop collaborate on new anthology
Independent publishing imprint and production company Cheerio Publishing has announced the upcoming publication of 22 Fictions: New Writing from Desperate Literature and Brick Lane Bookshop.
Featuring work drawn from the inception of both the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize and the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize, 22 Fictions is described as “a celebration of innovative, genre-bending short fiction".
Launched in 2017 (Desperate Literature) and 2019 (Brick Lane) by booksellers at independent bookshops in Madrid and London, the two prizes have "shared a vision to provide a space for a category of literature historically undervalued in Anglophone fiction publishing”.
In 22 Fictions, prize founders Kate Ellis (Brick Lane) and Robert Loyko-Greer (Desperate Literature) will bring together 11 pieces from each programme for the first time. This is the first collaboration between the two prizes, and the first collaboration with Cheerio as a partner publisher. The anthology will be published on 19th June 2025, edited by Kate Ellis and Robert Loyko-Greer.
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The collection will be foregrounded by essays from authors Wendy Erskine and Joanna Walsh, who are both former judges of the prizes. 22 Fictions will contain work from Shola von Reinhold, Leeor Ohayon, Tom Benn, Alice Haworth-Booth, NGF Clark, Danielle Giles, Francesca Reece, Melody Razak, Mariana Roa Oliva, Giovanna Iozzi, Suey Kweon, K Lockwood Jefford, Katie Hale, Max Lury, Jay Gao, Aoife Inman, Andrea Mason, Aisha Phoenix, Isha Karki, Jack Houston, Siri Katinka Valdez and Rajasree Variyar.
Darren Biabowe Barnes, editorial director at Cheerio Publishing, said: “Partnering with two of the world’s most forward-thinking booksellers to publish the razor-edge of contemporary writing speaks exactly to the DIY spirit Cheerio was founded on. A dream.”
Kate Ellis, 22 Fictions co-editor and founder of the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Award said: “Collaborating with Desperate Literature and Cheerio has been a total treat, and I cannot wait for 22 Fictions to be out in the world. It’s a true showcase of how wild, tender, experimental and exciting the short-story form can be.”
Robert Loyko-Greer, 22 Fictions co-editor and co-founder of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize, added.
“22 Fictions contains some of the most exciting new literary writers and voices working in the English language today. A collaboration between two brilliant writing programmes produced by independent bookshops in London and Madrid, this is a collection of boundary-pushing work that is innovative, international and forward-thinking. I am delighted to see 22 Fictions publish on Cheerio’s eclectic list, and I’m very excited for readers to discover the writing."
