A FORMER Bideford schoolboy has won an international prize for his collection of short stories.

Tom Vowler, 38, who grew up in Bideford and attended the town's comprehensive school and North Devon College won the international competition the Scott Prize.

His book They May Not Mean To But They Do has a theme of dubious parenting and was half written while he was a student at the University of Plymouth.

He said: "Winning the Scott Prize is thrilling, mostly as my collection will reach a wider audience, seeing publication in the USA and Australia, as well as the UK this summer.

"I tried to write the sort of stories I like to read myself, ones that get under the reader's skin, that unsettle in some way, so the experience remains long after the book is closed.

"Quiet epiphanies are important to me, moments that are slipped in, almost unseen, but yet move someone to laughter or tears or horror in a sentence.

"If I can mess with the reader's mind, even break their heart, that's fine with me."

Mr Vowler is also working on a novel set on Dartmoor and last year he received an Arts Council grant for just under £5,000 to research and write it.