The New Short Story Anthology from Hermitage Press

 

In September 2025, Hermitage Press, Cornwall Writers, The Writers Collective and Cornish Authors Bookshop combined to become a stronger voice for promoting the amazing writing talent which currently exists in Cornwall.

One of the first projects to be launched by this amazing amalgamation is the continuation of the successful bi-annual short story collection project by Cornwall Writers. First published in 2020, this series of collections aimed to encourage and support writers in Cornwall, by publishing their incredible stories and making it easier for readers throughout the UK and beyond to discover their work.

The theme for this, the fourth anthology, is salt & stone, a thread that was devised to evoke contrast: the shifting, fluid nature of life (salt), and the hard, unmoving truths we carry (stone).

The brief of the open call which was announced in October 2025, asked for stories to be submitted that were rooted in the atmosphere of Cornwall and its emotional terrain.

An overwhelming response was received from a wide range of Cornish Writers, some of whom have published many stories, to others whose stories are being published in this collection for the first time.

All the stories went through multiple reads, and were narrowed down to a longlist, then a shortlist. And our final authors then worked with Freelance Editors Adriana Ciontea, Maella Cottin and Project Manager Sam Stone, to sculpt the stories within salt & stone into a collection of emotive fiction that explored what it means to endure, transform, and confront the forces that shape them.