HANNAH RADCLIFFE looks at the Northern lives in Martyn Bedford’s collection, Letters Home: ‘ Perhaps what I found most poignant when reading this collection of stories were the things that were not spoken between characters; the words that fall between the cracks. Time and time again, characters seem to slip past one another, their true intentions never quite vocalised…’
Get your notebooks and laptops ready – it’s the launch of the 2018 Thresholds International Short Fiction Feature Writing Competition…
HANNAH BROCKBANK recommends the anthology that explores the experiences of refugees and those who work with them, REFUGEE TALES: ‘In tale after tale, physical environments are unforgiving and divisive. Conflicts are both physical and moral, and there is little resolution for the people described. The tales are challenging and resonate long after reading, not only because of their traumatic content, but also in the way they confront our attitudes and responsibilities to our fellow humans…’
KJ ORR, winner of the 2016 BBC National Short Story Award, speaks to us about her love of the short story form: ‘Short stories ask the reader to pay attention: I love that. Put another way, they value the reader, the reader’s imagination, engagement and attention. I find this both moving and important – profoundly connective…’
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…’
ANUSHREEE NANDE gets under the skin of ‘Witness Protection’ by Guy Ware: ‘The narrative revolves around Henry and Stella, and their seemingly routine life that hides secrets, lies and, possibly, violence…’
‘The idea’s quite simple: short stories set in cities across the world, which you can listen to, or read in eBook form…’ JIM HINKS, Digital Editor at Comma Press, tells us how the Gimbal short story app arrived on our phones.
‘I start a story because some concrete image or situation prompts or pesters or forces me to. And I don’t know where I am going when I start…’ Author DAVID CONSTANTINE talks to THRESHOLDS about the art of writing stories.
Join VICKI HEATH in conversation with Iraqi writer HASSAN BLASIM and translator JONATHAN WRIGHT, as Hassan’s second short story collection launches in the UK.
