A Major New International Literary Award
Announcing the Charleston & Chichester Award, for a Lifetime’s Excellence in Short Fiction…
Read Something Every Day
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…’
Play Scale
‘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.
Once Upon a Time in India
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…’
The Turning
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…’
Story: ‘Goodbye Crocodile’ by Conor Patrick
‘From the house I can see the path that leads to the valley…’ Read Conor Patrick’s story ‘Goodbye Crocodile’ on Thresholds now, ahead of the launch of his debut short story collection from The London Magazine.
Musical Fictions
Author JONATHAN TAYLOR talks to us about combining music and literature, as he prepares to launch his second short story collection, Kontakte and Other Stories – a book of ‘musical fictions’.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
CHRISTINE GENOVESE explores the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, accompanied by Harry Clarke’s haunting black and white illustrations, in the collection Tales of Mystery and Imagination.
Whistle If You Dare
STEPHEN DEVEREUX examines ‘Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’, one of M.R. James’ spooky, supernatural stories: ‘M. R. James’ ghost stories have had an enormous influence, not only on other writers, but on the treatment of the supernatural in film and other popular forms…’
Kevin Barry Wins The Edge Hill Short Story Prize
This year’s Edge Hill University Short Story Prize has been won by the seemingly unstoppable Kevin Barry for his collection Dark Lies The Island.
“For me the short story is my first love… I think that the genre has become more popular in recent years, particularly as more people are reading online, so they want more intense reads and the short story fits this perfectly – long may it continue.”