Dan is an award-winning author of short fiction whose short stories have been widely published both online and in print, appearing most recently in the pages of The End: Fifteen Endings to Fifteen Paintings, Being Dad: Short Stories about Fatherhood, The Bath Short Story Award Anthology 2015, The Lonely Crowd 2, Unthology 7, New Short Stories 8, The Salt Anthology of New Writing 2013, Carve, Paraxis, and Structo. His writing explores themes of family, morality, and grief, and is mainly intended for an adult audience.
In 2013 he received a Carve Esoteric Award for the short story Storm in a Teacup, while Half-mown Lawn was awarded the Yeovil Literary Prize for short fiction and was selected for inclusion in The Best British Short Stories 2012 (Salt, 2012). In July 2015 his story ‘Dancing to the Shipping Forecast’ won second prize in the Bath Short Story Award. In 2017, Dan was awarded 3rd Prize in The London Magazine Short Story Competition.
His debut collection of short fiction, Looking Out of Broken Windows (Salt, 2014), was shortlisted for the Scott Prize and longlisted for both the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Edge Hill Prize.
Dan received his MA in Creative Writing with Distinction in 2015. He currently teaches part-time and is a First Story writer-in-residence in Lincolnshire. He is an experienced workshop leader, having facilitated a variety of workshops for teenagers and adults in schools and literary festivals across the UK. In 2015 he received an Author’s Foundation Grant from the Society of Authors and a Royal Society of Literature Brookleaze Grant to develop his writing. In 2016 he became an Arvon tutor, and appeared at PowWow Festival of Writing. Dan is currently pursuing doctoral research in Creative Writing at University of Leicester.
Selected Publications:
Looking Out of Broken Windows (Salt, March 2014) - debut collection of short fiction.
Contributed To:
Doppleganger 1 (2018)
The London Magazine (August/September 2017)
The End : Fifteen Endings to Fifteen Paintings (2016)
Being Dad : Short Stories About Fatherhood (2016)
Bath Short Story Award Anthology 2015
The Lonely Crowd issue 2
Unthology 7
New Short Stories 8
The Salt Anthology of Short Stories 2013
Carve Spring 2013
The Best British Short Stories 2012
Structo 9
Scraps & Jawbreakers (National Flash Fiction Day anthologies)
Performances & Workshops:
Arvon Tutor – First Story Arvon Summer Residential - July 2016; First Story Competition Winners' Arvon residential - March 2016
‘Writing and Character’ workshop at Wolds Words 2015
Writer at First Story Summer Residential 2015
‘Engaging the Disengaged through Writing’ workshop at the NATE National Conference 2015
First Story Writer-in- Residence at Banovallum School, Lincolnshire (2014-2015)
‘Writing Short Stories’ workshop at Wolds Words 2014.
Reading performed at Lincoln Inspired 2014
Appeared on ‘The Weird and Wonderful World of Short Stories’ panel at The London Short Story Festival 2014
‘Flash Fiction’ workshop at Oxted Literary Festival 2014
Appeared on ‘Writing Short Fiction’ panel at Oxted Literary Festival 2014
‘Descriptive Writing’ and ‘Narrative Writing’ workshops with Year 11 students at John Spendluffe Technology College, Alford, 2014
‘Writing Short Stories’, weeklong series of workshops with Year 9 students, at Kings School, British Forces Germany, 2013
Prizes & Awards:
London Magazine Short Story Award 2017 (3rd prize)
Thresholds Essay Prize 2016 (shortlisted)
Bath Short Story Award 2015
Thresholds Essay Prize 2015 (runner-up)
Edge Hill Prize 2015 (longlist)
Thresholds Essay Prize 2014 (runner-up)
The Willesden Herald Short Story Prize 2014 (shortlisted)
Carve Esoteric Award 2013
Thresholds Essay Prize 2013 (runner-up)
The Scott Prize 2013 (shortlisted)
The Salt Short Story Prize 2013 (runner-up)
The Yeovil Prize for Short Fiction 2010 (1st prize)
Winchester Writers Conference Short Story Award 2009 (2nd Prize)