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…’
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.
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’.
ANDREW LEON HUDSON discusses the stories of The New Yorker and the collection 20 Under 40: ‘I live in Madrid and I don’t read The New Yorker. But not because I live in Madrid. My reluctance has been reinforced for a number of years by almost everything my American friends say about it…’
In this essay, KIRSTY WALTERS recommends The BBC International Short Story Award 2012 anthology: ‘Each one has, at its core, a theme of absence or disappearance. These are stories of missing people, death, and the ability to dispose of whatever we want, whenever we want…’
