NICOLE MANSOUR takes a look at this year’s edition of Best British Short Stories: ‘Now in its seventh year, Best British Short Stories 2017 proves to be yet another eclectic and affective anthology of short fiction. Gathered from literary magazines, journals, newspapers, websites and other anthologies by editor Nicholas Royle, it collects together twenty works by writers…’
NICOLA DALY discusses the work of the English writer Elizabeth Taylor: ‘When you tell people that Elizabeth Taylor is one of your favourite short story writers they look upon you a little strangely. ‘
SARAH RACHEL BEART looks finds intimacy and redemption in Trezza Azzopardi’s short story ‘Sticks and Stones’: ‘Azzopardi never imposes, but invites us to watch the protagonist in his confused flux, eventually work things out for himself…’
MIKE SMITH continues his explorations of the stories of H.E. Bates: ‘I recently stumbled upon a copy of H. E. Bates’ 1955 short story collection The Daffodil Sky & other stories. On the cover is a quotation from a reviewer: “contains some of the best tales he has written”.’
SHORT STORY ADAPTATIONS: this month, Dr. CHRIS MACHELL takes us to war-time Shanghai for a closer look at Eileen Chang’s story, ‘Lust, Caution’: ‘Chang’s prose is direct and efficient, yet evokes well-springs of emotion, historical trauma, and shared cultural memory…’
Get your notebooks and laptops ready – it’s the launch of the 2018 Thresholds International Short Fiction Feature Writing Competition…
PODCAST: In the fourth instalment of this year’s Short Story Masterclass podcasts, Jac Cattaneo talks with award-winning author, Dame Penelope Lively, about the relationship between the past and the present, the nature of memory and the unknowability of other people…
ELEANOR WALSH explores the feminist traits of ‘The Limping Bride’, a powerful short story by Samrat Upadhyay: ‘The most striking tension in the story is the stark disparity between what we as the reader learn about Rukmini’s character, and the other characters’ perception of her…’
