‘At five in the afternoon, the Bahia de Abyla sailed out of Algeciras.‘
At five in the afternoon, the Bahia de Abyla sailed out of Algeciras. It was the last ferry of the day, and Thomas Wavery was on his way to Africa, having spent the morning in Gibraltar.
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘What clipped the wings of her fiction and grounded her imagination was precisely what made her soar as a journalist.’
‘If you like people who hate each other, it’s paradise.’
‘By coming to Tasmania, I'd repeated the pattern of an ancient, unknown relative and the discovery pleased me in a profound and mysterious way.’
‘They called him Presidente Gonzalo, but his name was Abimael Guzmán. I had come to Lima to find Guzmán, although I knew I wouldn't succeed.’
‘On the day the doctors extracted the eggs from her ovaries, he would have to go into a room in the hospital and produce.’
Fiction by Benjamin Nugent.
Here are the authors on this year's BBC National Short Story Award Shortlist
