Burning Bush by Merryn Glover

Merryn Glover’s heart-rending story about sorrow, love and belonging set in the Australian bush is the first contender for this year’s BBC National Short Story Award with the University of Cambridge, which celebrates its 21st anniversary this year. When an unexpected letter arrives, an elderly man is forced to question his isolated life, surrounded only by animals, birds, and painful memories. Mike Sengelow reads ‘Burning Bush’.

Merryn Glover was born in Nepal, educated in Australia. Her plays and short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland and widely anthologised. Her first novel, 'A House Called Askival' (2014) is set in an Indian hill-station, where she went to school, and her second, 'Of Stone and Sky' (2021), in the Badenoch region of the Cairngorms National Park, is where she now lives. It won Book of the Year at the Bookmark Book Festival, Blairgowrie, and was long-listed for the Highland Book Prize. In 2019, Merryn was the first Writer in Residence for the Cairngorms National Park and has been a regular contributor to the Guardian Country Diary. Her latest book is 'The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd' (2023).

The annual BBC National Short Story Award with the University of Cambridge celebrates its 21st anniversary in 2026 with a shortlist of five short stories by multi-award-winning writers and astonishing new talent from across the United Kingdom. Set in locations across the globe, from the Australian bush to Galway Bay, this year’s tender and vivid stories explore the value of human connection across generations and through friendship in a fractured world.
Marking the awards is Di Speirs, who has judged the BBC National Short Story Award since its launch. She will be joined on the judging panel by 2022 NSSA winner Saba Sams and two former NSSA shortlistees, Tahmima Anam (2016) and Will Eaves (2017), and Costa Best First Novel Award winner, Andrew Micheal Hurley.

The BBC National Short Story Award with the University of Cambridge was established to raise the profile of the short form and this year’s all-female shortlist join an impressive list of alumni.

From 14 to 18 September, all five of the shortlisted stories can be heard at 3.30pm each afternoon on Radio 4. The winner of the 21st BBC National Short Story Award with the University of Cambridge will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row at 7.15pm on Tuesday 29 September 2026.

Reader: Mike Sengelow
Writer: Merryn Glover
Abridged and produced by Justine Willett