Interview with the 2026 First Prize winner: John Barrett Lee

 

John Barrett Lee is a Welsh writer, teacher and dad. 

His fiction has appeared with Fairlight Books, Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place and Nature, and elsewhere. 

He won the Ironclad Creative Short Story Competition and has been recognised by prizes including the Historical Writers' Association Dorothy Dunnett Award. 

Find him on Instagram and X @johnbarrettlee

What did you start with to create your story - the character, the concept or something else?


I can't remember exactly, but in my childhood, grandmas always seemed to have pianos and knew how to play them. I also love Pixar's Coco and cried at the scene where Miguel plays the secret song to his great-grandmother. My grandad used to say that all the men in our family have small hands and cry too easily, and he was right. Alfie is my Welsh Miguel.

How long have you been writing and have you had anything published before?

I studied Creative Writing at university, but then life got in the way and I didn't write much creatively for the next twenty years. I started again about a year ago, mainly because my cousin Rebecca published a book and family rivalry is a powerful motivator. For reasons I don't entirely understand, most of my stories have either been published or placed in a competition. I'm still waiting to be found out.

(Because it's been so ridiculously hot in the UK this week) Does the weather influence your writing?

I'm currently working in Ho Chi Minh City, where it's generally hot, humid and somewhere around 35°C. If anything, being in the tropics has made me nostalgic for wet, grey Welsh weather. Drizzle seems to find its way into my stories more often than sunshine.

If you could invite 3 literary characters to tea, who would they be and why?

The Tiger, Sophie and Sophie's mummy from The Tiger Who Came to Tea. My children adore Judith Kerr's story and we've read it together so many times I've lost count. They especially love the illustration of Sophie cuddling the tiger in the kitchen. I'd quite like to cuddle him too.

What will you spend your prize money on?

My family and I are going to Italy this summer. I lived there for four years, but they've never been and I'm so excited about showing them around. The prize money will be spent on pizza, gelato, prosecco and slightly nicer hotels.

What is your writing process, pen to paper or straight to screen?

I wish I could say pen and paper because it sounds more literary, but the truth is that I write straight onto a laptop or tablet.

Thank you for sharing some of your writing process with us, John.

You can read John's story here.