CATH HUMPHRIS explores ‘An Indiscreet Journey’ by Katherine Mansfield: ‘…a breezily narrated tale describing a young woman’s journey across France to visit her lover during the first world war. Like so much of Mansfield’s fiction, the story is a pen-portrait of an actual event…’
We are delighted to bring you an extract from the introduction to The Postcolonial Short Story: Contemporary Essays, edited by MAGGIE AWADALLA and PAUL MARCH-RUSSELL.
It’s that time of year again – the Small Wonder International Short Story Festival is almost upon us. In preparation, we take a look at this year’s highlights…
BELLA REID introduces us to ‘A Mother of Monsters’ by French 19th century author Guy de Maupassant: ‘It is very nearly a horror story; I was twelve when I first read it and, at that age, it was the most shocking thing I’d come across…’
In this feature, TRISH NICHOLSON recommends Global Cultures, an anthology of culturally diverse short fictions from around the world: ‘I delve repeatedly into these tales, and they often lead me to consider how a writer’s voice can be a powerful advocate for change…’
Announcing the Charleston & Chichester Award, for a Lifetime’s Excellence in Short Fiction…
JACK TILLEY discusses his experience of reading Carver: Collected Stories from The Library of America: ‘It went something like this: ‘Fat’, ‘Neighbors’, ‘The Idea’, ‘They’re Not Your Husband’. Then I couldn’t take any more. After four days I couldn’t read another story…’
‘When it comes to reading short stories, I’d prefer not to. As a premise for a piece submitted to a site promoting the short story, this is not a hugely promising start. But bear with me…’ CHARLES DAVIS discusses the short story form.
SYLVIA PETTER’s Author Profile introduces us to Australian writer Janette Turner Hospital: ‘A spouse reluctantly accompanies her husband on sabbatical from a Canadian university to a town in Southern India. While he does research on the iconography of the temple in Trivandrum, she taps out a short story on a manual typewriter…’
KATH McKAY recommends the words of Australian writer Tim Winton, ‘an author who gets down in the dust of humanity. He writes about car crashes and disfigurements and scrubbing floors and drownings and hangings and falling out with your in-laws…’
