Belfast author and playwright Lucy Caldwell has been shortlisted for a UK-wide literary award.
The award-winning writer has been named among finalists for the 2024 BBC National Short Story Award.
The prestigious competition, which is now in its 19th year, is held in partnership with Cambridge University and offers the winner £15,000, while each of the other four shortlisted authors receive £600.
Ms Caldwell, who is a graduate of Cambridge, has been nominated for her work titled Hamlet: A Love Story.
The story is about a theatre troupe from Belfast taking their experimental production of the Shakespeare classic to New York.
The nominees for this year were announced on BBC Radio 4′s Front Row.
The other nominated writers are Will Boast, Manish Chauhan, Ross Raisin and Vee Walker.
Di Speirs, the BBC’s books editor, said: “From a roster of serious literary names from different fields - short stories, novels and non-fiction - alongside brand-new talent, we have five stories linked by compassion and understanding.
“The collision of cultures followed by new comprehension has proved an irresistible theme this year with no fewer than three of the stories reflecting this in original, sometimes heart-stopping ways.
“The need to adapt and make the most of life whatever the difficulties is another recurring motif and makes for life-enhancing reading. Love in many guises permeates the list, alongside Shakespearean themes and Hamlet himself and for the first time a story narrated by a dog.”
Last years saw Lucy Caldwell win the 2023 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction at the Borders Book Festival, for her novel These Days, set in Belfast during the Second World War.
