Bio
Chris Barkley’s debut novel, The Man on the Endless Stair was released in summer 2025 and was described in The Times as ‘An eerie, deeply atmospheric tale of hidden treasure and trauma.’ He was appointed Writer in Residence by the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2022. He won the Oxford University Kellogg Writing Competition in 2021, as well as the Bedford International Writing Prize. He has been shortlisted for the Cambridge Short Story Prize, and has had prose published in TSS, National Flash Fiction, Darling Axe and the Writers of the Future anthology. He lives in Edinburgh and has led a creative writing course at Yale and guest lectured at Oxford.
Accolades
Shortlisted: The List Award for Best Rising Scottish Author
Polygon bags Chris Barkley's 'thrilling' debut novel
Edinburgh Book Festival Residency 2022
Winner: Kellogg Writing Competition 2021
Winner: Bedford International Competition 2021
Pushcart Prize Nomination 2022