2015 International Feature Writing Competition Shortlist
Now in its fourth year, the THRESHOLDS International Feature Writing Competition celebrates the art of the short story form and awards one deserving essayist the top prize of £500.
The 2015 Competition Longlist
Over the past few weeks, the team of THRESHOLDS judges has been busy reading and re-reading the entries, debating and deliberating. Now, we bring you.… The 2015 THRESHOLDS Features Award longlist.
Edna O’Brien
We are delighted to bring you this exclusive interview with Edna O’Brien, winner of the Charleston-Chichester Award for a Lifetime’s Excellence in Short Fiction, recorded at the Small Wonder Short Story Festival last September…
That First Love
VICTORIA HEATH looks at the story that made her want to write, ‘First Love, Last Rites’ by Ian McEwan: ‘The ‘it’ is often referred to more sinisterly as the ‘creature’ and it’s the crux that McEwan uses to turn this story from that of a starry-eyed relationship into something darker and far more interesting…’
So So Special
LELA TREDWELL recommends Robert Shearman’s collection Everyone’s Just So So Special: ‘His writing is as good as you’re going to get to a dictionary definition of special: ‘better, greater and otherwise different from what is usual’. And it’s for his third collection of short stories, in particular, that he is just so, so special, to me…’
Everyday Hope
AMANDA OOSTHUIZEN recommends Simon Van Booy’s collection Love Begins in Winter: ‘I’ve returned to some of these stories several times, and I always find surprises. In that respect, it is the literary equivalent to great music, but written in prose that is elegant, spare and startling…’
Hallmarking the Stories of Prosper Mérimée
MIKE SMITH finds seven short stories by Prosper Mérimée in The World’s Thousand Best Short Stories and asks what unites them: ‘…is there a Prosper Mérimée stamp upon them? Is there the common hallmark of the short story, whatever that might be?’
Overcoming Bumps, Blocks and Barricades
‘The journey to the end of a story can be littered with plot holes, hold-ups, plans that need constant revision and, worst of all, a complete blockade. Enthusiasm will only get you so far…’ LYNDA NASH shares some valuable strategies to help overcome the dreaded writer’s block.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Beta Life
DAVID FRANKEL reflects on Beta Life from Comma Press, an anthology of short fiction and essays: ‘…what makes these stories particularly interesting is how they explore what it is that makes us human, the things at the core of how we react to the world…’
Three Stories About Love
RAJAT CHAUDHURI examines the tension in love stories by Hemingway, Calvino and Chekhov: ‘What ties these stories together and sets them apart from others is an undertow of tension.’