An Aberystwyth-based writer has been longlisted for a prestigious literary award.

Sam Christie has been longlisted for the 2021 Peggy Chapman-Andrews first novel award as part of the internationally acclaimed Bridport Prize.

His novel, Compass, reached the longlist of 20 entries out of 2116 overall.

Sam started the novel during lockdown but had no idea that it would end up being chosen for such a prestigious award.

“Like many people, given the restrictions of lockdown, I had to try to make the best use of my time,” he said. “I decided to do what I’d always wanted to have a go at; writing a novel. I wrote it to see if I could, but decided to take a chance on the Bridport at the last minute.”

When he is not writing, Sam works freelance for AMP Media, based at the creative units at Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

He has a PhD from Aberystwyth University’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies.

“My fiction writing uses the beautiful Ceredigion landscape as inspiration and most of my work is set locally,” he explained.

“I am working on a second novel which looks at how recent political events have impacted a small upland community.”

An extract from Sam’s novel will be published in this year’s novel anthology which is sent to agents and publishers around the UK.

The Bridport Prize First Novel competition is open to writers based in Britain and the Republic of Ireland. The award is named after Peggy Chapman-Andrews who founded the Bridport Prize in 1973.

The Bridport Prize features categories in poetry, short stories, flash fiction and first novels. This year the competition announced a new category for memoir.