Desperate Literature is an international bookshop in the heart of Madrid, founded in 2014.  They run weekly events with authors from around the world, and in 2019 hosted Spain’s first English-language poetry festival.

The aim of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is both to celebrate the best of new short fiction and to give winners the most visibility possible for their writing. That’s why they have teamed up with fourteen different literary and artistic institutions to not only offer cash prizes and writing retreats but also to ensure that all our shortlisters have the opportunity to be published in multiple print and online journals, have their work put in front of literary agents, and present their stories in multiple countries.

The 2025 prize will be judged by Mariana Enríquez, Henry Hoke, and Ottessa Moshfegh.

First Prize:

• €2000
• A week’s residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation
• A manuscript assessment with The Literary Consultancy
• Meeting with literary agent Ed Wilson from The Literary Consultancy

A limited number of sponsored entries are available upon request.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.