National Short Story Week

It's National Short Story Week!

2011-11-08T04:21:00.001-08:00

This week is National Short Story Week in the UK.

Go to our website for lots of resources to help you celebrate the week.

Thousands of year 7 and 8 school children around the country are writing short stories this week as part of our Young Writer competition to celebrate National Short Story Week. You can see more details in this week's issue of children's newspaper First News.

Writing Children's Fiction

2011-11-08T04:18:00.000-08:00

In this edition of The Write Lines, Sue Cook talks to Joe Craig (Jimmy Coates series), Jon Mayhew (The Demon Collector), Tamsyn Murray (My So-Called Haunting)and Chris Priestley (Mr Creecher) about writing fiction for children.

Essential listening for anyone who would like to write for children.

Writing short stories for women's magazines

2011-11-08T04:15:00.000-08:00

If you have ever thought about writing short stories for the women's magazine market this edition of The Write Lines with Sue Cook is essential listening. Sue talks to three experts in the field, Rowan Coleman (Lessons in Laughing Out Loud), Sophie King (The School Run)and Sue Moorcroft (Love and Freedom).

There are lots of great tips such as how to find inspiration for stories, how to submit your work and even what not to call your hero and heroine!

Writing Tips

2011-11-08T04:10:00.000-08:00

We are delighted to bring you three special online versions of Sue Cook's radio programme about writing and writers: The Write Lines.

Programme 1 is all about short stories and below you can hear Sue talking to Nicholas Royle (editor, Best British Short Stories 2011, Salt Publishing), Emily Bullock (winner, Bristol Short Story Prize), Stuart Evers (10 Stories About Smoking, Picador), Linda Leatherbarrow (Essential Kit), Helen Oyeyemi (Mr Fox, Picador) and Jonathan Pinnock (winner, Scott Prize 2011):

Essential Kit by Linda Leatherbarrow

2011-11-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

In these varied and exquisite short stories, Linda Leatherbarrow brings together for the first time her prize-winning short prose with new and previously unpublished work. A wide-ranging, rich and surprising gallery of characters includes a nineteen-year-old girl leaving home, a talking gorilla in the swinging sixties, a shoe fetishist and a long-distance walker. The prose is lyrical, witty and uplifting, funny and moving, always pertinent – proving that the short story is the perfect literary form for contemporary urban life. Essential reading for short-story lovers everywhere.

'Full of acute observation, surprising imagery... joyously surreal, gnomically funny, and touching' - Shena Mackay

'I couldn't put this collection down. Hoorah for the vibrant short story - here it is, in all its magnificance' - Julia Darling

The Fiction Desk Volume 2

2011-11-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

The second volume in this exciting new series of short story anthologies, presenting the best new short fiction from British and international authors.

Among the stories: a new dress code causes havoc in an American school, a newspaper mistake leads a retired comedian to look back over a not-quite-spotless career, and a family buys an unusual addition to their fish tank. This volume also features 'Pretty Vacant', a special long story from Charles Lambert.

More about The Fiction Desk

Paperback, 176 pages
Edited by Rob Redman
Published 30 September 2011
ISBN 978-0-9567843-2-2

A Little Aloud edited by Angela Macmillan

2011-11-08T03:55:00.000-08:00

“A Little, Aloud is wonderful: a luscious, challenging enticement to read and hear and share the love of doing both.” Booker Prize-winner, Howard Jacobson

Inspired by the Get Into Reading sessions and edited by Angela Macmillan, A Little, Aloud is an anthology of prose and poetry for reading aloud to someone that you care for. All proceeds from the book go directly to support the outreach work of the Reader Organisation.

Stories are made to be shared; the telling and sharing of stories with others is woven into the fabric of our everyday lives. Most of us will remember being tucked up with a bedtime story as a staple of our childhood, and how rewarding but more importantly, how comforting it was. Why should we miss out on that pleasure as an adult?

A Little, Aloud (Chatto & Windus, 2010) provides a selection of carefully selected literature designed especially to be read aloud to someone you care for, a partner, child, sick or elderly relative. All the chosen texts in the anthology – edited by Angela Macmillan – have been tried and tested by trained facilitators in Get Into Reading groups and offer something to delight everyone; from Shakespeare to Seamus Heaney, Black Beauty to Madame Bovary. Arranged into small sections that cover a range of topics and themes, each is supplemented by reading notes which recall the conversations, observations and anecdotes of Get Into Reading group members. These personal responses to pieces of literature, show just how deeply and powerfully the act of reading can resonate with us all.

Buy A Little, Aloud directly from The Reader.

South to that Dark Sun by Gareth Owen

2011-11-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

This collection of eleven stories provides a voice for many different worlds and characters: from the naive but beautiful Italian woman and her erotic obsession with religion and dentistry,to the Rock/Blues singer damaged by drugs and alcohol, whose moment in the sun has passed, and who falls under the spell of the honey-voiced Mississipi Southern Belle of his satnav.

One evening, whilst suffering from writers' block, Gareth Owen recalled an anecdote related by his Italian teacher and mentally transformed himself into an Italian woman, and the result was Zia Teresa: the tale of the rather dim small-town beauty and her erotic obsessions.

There are ten further stories many with male protagonists and English settings: the
chilling ghost story of the aborted child, the narcissistic actor and his breakdown on stage; the confessions of the serial philanderer.

Gareth sings in the guise of Country singer, Virg Clenthill, and has received an abundance of positive press,including being described in The Times as "a torrent of jovial mockery… hard to beat for intelligent high spirits."

Praise for Gareth's previous work:
"Both grips and stretches the imagination." Times Literary Supplement

About the Author:
Gareth Owen is a prize-winning poet. For a number of years he presented the BBC's long-running Poetry Please! He has published five collections of verse, as well as five novels and books for children. He has also written numerous plays, four of which were broadcast by the BBC.

PUBLISHED 2nd August 2010
£8.00
ISBN 9781848763944
Distributor: Troubador Publishing Ltd, 5 Weir Road, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester, LE8 0LQ, UK
Paperback 300PP 198x127 mm Portrait

Thirteen Months to Christmas by Alison Leonard

2011-11-08T03:44:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Months To Christmas is a collection of thirteen short stories: one for Christmas, one for each month of the year and the final one for the following Christmas. In this fun and festive gift book, you can find the ghost of a lover's great-aunt in a wardrobe, curl up with Killer Ken in his winter garden, or listen to Catriona heralding disaster over the airwaves. How about picking up a strange old lady from the airport, as Jasmine does, and finding she tells you the meaning of your life? Another month, you'll meet a hideous but magical boy beside a sun-drenched river; next, you'll discover you're pregnant by a man in a draughty teepee. You can wash your mother's hair in the deep south while dreaming of murder, cower in rural Sudan terrified by Ronald Reagan, or find that Death stops you getting to the seaside at Scarborough.

Praise for Alison's short stories:
"Stories which work best are those with pace and movement. Alison Leonard's sped along".Jackie Kay, poet,on Alison's story "Coach Fare to Scarborough" in MsLexia.

"A perfect gem of a piece." Robert Colman, poet, on Alison's short story "The Bonesetter's Nephew."

About the Author: Alison Leonard's fiction, drama and poetry for adults and children have been published, performed and broadcast in Britain, Ireland, Germany, Australia and the United States.

PUBLISHED 01 November 2011
£8.50 pb/£5.99 eBook
ISBN 9781848767683 pb/9781848768338 eBook
Distributor: Troubador Publishing Ltd, 5 Weir Road, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester, LE8 0LQ, UK
Paperback 120PP 198x127 mm Portrait

Silent Bombs Falling on Green Grass by Russell Mardell

2011-11-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

Silent Bombs Falling On Green Grass is an intriguing collection of stories. It spans a wide selection of genres, from comedy to the surreal, to horror and drama. Written in a way that plays with structure and expectations it presents an unpredictable world where the reader is never quite sure how the story will unfold.

Instead of presenting each story in isolation, Russell makes the fictitious setting, Mewlish Lull, the sort of town you pass through on your way to somewhere else without even noticing the protagonist itself. He overlaps characters and incidents, leaving the reader to glean more from each story when the collection is read as a whole.

Russell has worked in independent film and fringe theatre for ten years. Trained in film production, he has written and produced two films, which has led to his current work as a playwright. Russell has written and occasionally directed five plays, which have been performed in theatres in London, Manchester and Salisbury.

PUBLISHED 1st December 2010
£7.99
ISBN 9781848765139 (paperback) / 9781848769779 (ebook)
Distributor: Orca Book Services. Tel: 01235 465521. Email: tradeorders@orcabookservices.co.uk
BIC subject category : FYB Short Stories
Paperback 256PP 203x127 mm Portrait

Women's fiction CD Women Aloud now available

2011-10-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

Listen to stories by Trisha Ashley, Judy Astley, Elizabeth Chadwick, Rowan Coleman, Katie Fforde, Milly Johnson, Catherine King, Sophie King, Carole Matthews, Sue Moorcroft and Allie Spencer.

Women Aloud is an audio anthology of short stories written by eleven of the UK's best loved women's fiction writers.

There's something for everyone in this unique audiobook - over 2 hours of love, laughter, thrills and chills. It will make a great gift for a friend, mum, sister, grandmother, aunt, girlfriend, wife, partner or...yourself!

Buy the CD now

2011-09-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

The latest short story collection from Holland Park Press is Top of the Sixties by David Ayres.

This wonderful celebration of the 1960s will be launched at the Lichfield Literature Festival on 3 October at 8 pm in The George Hotel.

David Ayres has a unique way of describing the lives of ordinary people, full of humour and empathy. His stories often contain an underlying hint of sensuality.

The stories will generate a smile of recognition on the faces of readers who remember the 1960s. Yet readers of any age will recognise the universal emotions they convey, such as the painful self-consciousness only teenagers can feel or the appearance of love at any age. This collection really puts its finger on what makes people tick.

Each story can be read on its own, but together they paint a vivid picture of life in a small, tightly-knit working-class town in the Midlands during the 1960.

Top of the Sixties, ISBN 978-1-907320-09-5, 160 pages, £10.99, more information is available from the Holland Park Press website.

Writers' Forum short story winner

2011-08-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Steven Hawley, who has won the Writers' Forum Fiction Competition for the October issue. As part of his prize, Steven will have his story, "Thanks for the Memory" recorded by a professional actor and broadcast on Short Story Radio as part of the celebrations for National Short Story Week 2011.

You can read Steven's story in October's issue of Writers' Forum, which is now on sale.

National Short Story Week recommended reading list

2011-08-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

The recommended reading list for National Short Story Week 2011 is now available from the website.

The reading list includes some of the best new short fiction and some timeless classics. It has titles that are suitable for adults, teenagers and younger children.

School and public libraries, and bookshops, can receive posters and/or a copy of the National Short Story Week 2011 logo to advertise displays or events that take place as part of National Short Story Week.

See the National Short Story Week website for more information.

Giving an interview on local radio

2011-08-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Helen Hunt has written a very useful article on giving an interview for local radio. The article is based on Helen's own experiences from last year's National Short Story Week.

Helen writes short stories and features for magazines. Her short stories have appeared in Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly, The Weekly News, People’s Friend and Take A Break Fiction Feast in the UK, and That’s Life Fast Fiction in Australia. She has also had real life stories published by My Weekly, This England and Evergreen magazines, and articles in Writing Magazine, Writers’ Forum and The New Writer.

Helen runs workshops for people who are interested in writing for the women’s magazine market and you can find out more on her blog.

Writing tips - new article on website

2011-08-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

You can now read "When is a Short Story like a Russian Box?" by Cherry Gilchrist on the National Short Story Week website.

Cherry passes on four specific ideas that she gleaned from Russian artists, and suggests how they might be applied to writing short stories.

Find out about a new online course called The Art of the Short Story, which Cherry will be tutoring for the University of Exeter.

André Mangeot - A Little Javanese

2011-08-29T04:57:00.000-07:00

Here are five haunting stories – two of them virtual novellas – about the shifting landscapes of mind and place. In beautifully evoked locations – France, Russia, Latin America, the Far East – lives unfold and unravel under pressure, to sometimes shocking outcomes.

Mangeot's characters face complex situations or decisions that define the nature of what it means to be human: our capacity for good, evil, strength and weakness. His writing shifts effortlessly between haunting, poetic rhythms and fast, sharp-edged dialogue. And his capacity to conjure a strong sense of place is at times redolent of Maugham and Hemingway. If you like writing that is authentic, unexpected and imbued with the scent and mystery of other lands, this collection will not disappoint you.

A Little Javanese by André Mangeot is published by Salt Publishing.

André Mangeot - True North

2011-08-29T04:54:00.000-07:00

Seven stories set in seven different countries – by a prizewinning poet who is also emerging as a talented writer of fiction. Set in Romania, Miami, the Sahara, Thailand, France, Indonesia and Canada, they expose human frailty in its many forms but suggest that humanity has more that binds us together than separates us.

True North by André Mangeot is published by Salt Publishing.

Steve Leighton - Tales of Kaph

2011-08-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

The twenty-eight short stories in this collection encompass a variety of styles, settings, subjects and lengths. Many have appeared in magazines and anthologies and several have won prizes in short story competitions, including the Canongate Prize and literature festival competitions at Wells, Yeovil and Weston-super-Mare.

Without necessarily being geographically specific, some of the stories have a clear link with Glastonbury and its alternative culture, while others have a gentle rural or coastal atmosphere, sometimes fantastical, always delightful and thought provoking.

The cover picture, as well as the drawings illustrating each story are by the author.

Tales of Kaph by Steve Leighton is published by Red Dog Books.

Hornsea Writers - A Sackful of Shorts

2011-08-29T04:26:00.000-07:00

A Sackful of Shorts is an anthology of 13 diverse short stories from Hornsea Writers, a group of published authors from the East Riding of Yorkshire in England.

More information about the stories and writers on Stuart Aken's blog.

Various Authors - The Fiction Desk

2011-08-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

These stories take the reader from the shores of Lake Garda in Italy to a hospital room in Utah, from a retirement home overlooking the Solent to an unusual school in the wilds of Scotland. They introduce the reader to people like Daniel, a government employee looking for an escape; and William, who is—to put it mildly—a most remarkable dog.

There are a dozen new stories, from a range of new and established authors. Readers may be familiar with Charles Lambert, Danny Rhodes, or Matthew Licht, while many of the others are making their debuts.

The Fiction Desk publishes a quarterly anthology of new short fiction.

Each issue takes the form of a 192 page paperback book, containing around a dozen short stories from new and upcoming writers. Individual books will be available for £9.99, either from this site (volume one is out now), or from your local bookshop. You can also take out an annual subscription, costing just £26.99 for four issues.

The Fiction Desk

Vanessa Gebbie - Storm Warning

2011-08-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

Haunting, thought-provoking and often shocking, Storm Warning pulls no punches as it explores the echoes of war and conflict. Vanessa Gebbie’s writing compares to the war themes of Sebastian Barry and his lyricism, Sebastian Faulks, especially Birdsong, the terse strangeness of Haruki Murakami, and Pat Barker in The Ghost Road and Another World.

Storm Warning by Vanessa Gebbie is published by Salt Publishing.

Patrick Holland - The Source of Sound

2011-08-29T04:13:00.001-07:00

This compelling debut short story collection by award-winning Australian novelist, Patrick Holland, traces the journeys of exiles in search of home. The stories in this collection were inspired by the work of Ernest Hemingway, Graham Green, Emily Bronte and Cormac McCarthy.

The Source of Sound by Patrick Holland is published by Salt Publishing.

Tom Vowler - The Method

2011-08-29T04:12:00.001-07:00

Tom Vowler’s debut, award-winning collection of provocative and bold stories will get under your skin. Readers will be reminded of the early work of Iain Banks, Philip Ó Ceallaigh’s Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse and Ian McEwan’s First Love, Last Rights.

The Method by Tom Vowler is published by Salt Publishing.

Susannah Rickards - Hot Kitchen Snow

2011-08-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

Readers who hanker after the verve and eccentricity of Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum, the wit and insight of Zoe Heller’s Notes on a Scandal, or the lyricism of Helen Dunmore’s The Siege, will love Rickards’ collection.

Hot Kitchen Snow by Susannah Rickards is published by Salt Publishing.

Pinckney Benedict - Miracle Boy and other stories

2011-08-29T04:09:00.001-07:00

The highly-anticipated new collection of stories by Pinckney Benedict — the US’s foremost short story writer. Benedict’s work is compared with Raymond Carver, Flannery O’Conner and Tobias Wolff, mixed with Ray Bradbury. His stories emerge from a vividly observed everyday of American small-town life; desolation, self-deception and wreckage are never far away.

Miracle Boy and other stories by Pinckney Benedict is published by Salt Publishing.

David Gaffney - The Half-Life of Songs

2011-08-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

David Gaffney’s short stories are fiction for the iPad generation. His writing can be compared with Dan Rhodes, Dave Eggers and David Shrigley. The Guardian summed up perfectly what makes David Gaffney’s short stories so unique: ‘One hundred and fifty words by Gaffney are more worthwhile than novels by a good many others.’

The Half-Life of Songs by David Gaffney is published by Salt Publishing.

Matthew Vollmer - Future Missionaries of America

2011-08-29T04:07:00.000-07:00

This debut collection, widely and positively reviewed across the US, takes us from a Seventh Day Adventist boarding school to a traveling exhibition of plasticine bodies, from the moonlit paths of Yellowstone National Park to a quiet New
Hampshire lake house.

Future Missionaries of America by Matthew Vollmer is published by Salt Publishing.

Vivien Jones - Perfect 10

2011-08-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

The heroines in Perfect 10 are large and have to learn to adapt and survive in a society that often overlooks them. With sympathy and insight, the author shows how these strategies can be inspired, funny or desperate. Meet Jeannie, mini-skirted for a hen party and stranded late at night, or the dress shop owner showing a shy customer that large can be beautiful too.

Perfect 10 by Vivien Jones is published by Pewter Rose Press.

Hilary Spiers - The Hour Glass

2011-08-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

Succinctly written, Hilary Spiers’ stories explore an assortment of relationships, all of which leave their individual mark on the reader. Be transported from the life of an Hungarian emigré to a child watching her parents splitting apart, through a street in World War Two and onto a house on the brink of a collapsing cliff.

The Hour Glass by Hilary Spiers is published by Pewter Rose Press.

Jo Cannon - Insignificant Gestures

2011-08-29T04:03:00.002-07:00

In her debut collection, Jo Cannon explores exile and belonging and what it means to be an outsider. A refugee finds his face has disappeared from the mirror, a traumatised woman realises she can slip in and out of the minds of the passersby, and in another country, where nothing is at it should be, a lone nurse plays peek-a-boo with an abandoned baby.

Insignificant Gestures by Jo Cannon is published by Pewter Rose Press.

Bryan Walpert - Ephraim's Eyes

2011-08-29T04:03:00.000-07:00

How does an individual explain a car accident or a child’s illness? In this collection, the characters are left to face up to their own responsibility and lack of control over the events. They weave their own stories and enter into their own worlds as they psychologically resist grief but are driven to explain.

Ephraim's Eyes by Bryan Walpert is published by Pewter Rose Press.

Roberta Dewa - Holding Stones

2011-08-29T04:01:00.001-07:00

How do memories and the past affect the present? In this collection, Roberta Dewa, writing with acute observation of people and places, shows how some memories can haunt while others bring warmth and a reassurance to the characters. She also draws on her love of the Peak District landscape in her stories Bleaklow and Reservoir.

Holding Stones by Roberta Dewa is published by Pewter Rose Press.

Francis Thimann - Cello & other stories

2011-08-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

A thought-provoking collection of short stories focused on the theme of old age and depicting age as perceived directly by those at the end of life and indirectly by those around them. The author explores the feelings and emotions of those who have lived a significant part of their life, revealing the old as complex individuals with distinct voices of their own.

Cello & other stories by Francis Thimann is published by Pewter Rose Press.

Charlie Taylor - The Journey and other stories

2011-08-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

Wry observation, cynical comment, humour hidden in pathos, and vice versa. The Journey and Other Stories is a compilation of short stories chronicling one writer's continuing commentary upon the human condition. "They sure ain't purty," he said in a fake American Accent when asked how best to describe them, "but then humanity ain't either."

The Journey and other stories by Charlie Taylor is published by Unbound Press.

Brindley Hallam Dennis - That's What Ya Get!

2011-08-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

Kowalski's been living in England for many years, and he's still trying to get to grips with it. Life, that is. England he's got sewn up. In these 40 tales, told by Kowalski himself in his inimitable fashion, this curmudgeonly old New Yorker living in England with his long-suffering wife Mildred takes us on a hilarious outsider's tour of contemporary life, from the frustrations of petty regulations, to the maddening irrelevancies of public information; from the complexities of race relations and green politics, to the incomprehensibilities of personal relationships, geo-physical temporalities, and fishing! Throughout it all he struggles to negotiate the minefields of ambiguity and the whirlpools of double-meanings that constitute the English language.

That's What Ya Get! by Brindley Hallam Dennis is published by Unbound Press.

By Invitation Only

2011-08-29T03:52:00.000-07:00

International Prizewinning Short Stories from the Unbound Press & Spilling Ink Review ‘By Invitation Only’ Competition, to mark the inaugural National Short Story Week November 22nd – 28th 2010.

Stories by: Viccy Adams, Kurt Caswell, Defne Cizakca, David Cotrone, Sarah Crossland, Daniel W. Davis, Max Dunbar, Louise Hume, Miranda Landgraf,
Kirsty Logan, Roderick Craig Low, Ian Madden, Tim Pears, William Prince, Nicole Quinn.

By Invitation Only - A Collection of Short Stories is published by Unbound Press (ISBN 978-0-9558360-8-4)

The Lost College and Other Oxford Stories

2011-08-29T03:51:00.001-07:00

"I was delighted with the high standard." Colin Dexter

The Lost College and Other Oxford Stories is published by OxPens Publications.

The Sixpenny Debt and Other Oxford Stories

2011-08-29T03:49:00.001-07:00

"We couldn't possibly have imagined its immense popularity." Waterstones

The Sixpenny Debt and Other Oxford Stories is published by OxPens Publications

The Bodleian Murders and Other Oxford Stories

2011-08-29T03:48:00.001-07:00

"Another intriguing collection of stories by the OxPens writers." Katie Fforde

The Bodleian Murders and Other Oxford Stories is published by OxPens Publications

Jane Gordon-Cumming - The Haunted Bridge and Other Strange Tales of the Oxford Canal

2011-08-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

"Stories spookily and splendidly told." Colin Dexter

The Haunted Bridge and Other Strange Tales of the Oxford Canal by Jane Gordon-Cumming is published by OxPens Publications.

All Oxpens books are available to buy from booksellers or direct from:
OxPens Publishing, 98 Southmoor Road, Oxford. OX2 6RB

Vasily Grossman - The Road: Short Fiction and Essays

2011-08-29T03:20:00.000-07:00

Vasily Grossman is widely recognized by Russian scholars as one of the outstanding literary figures of the twentieth century. The short fiction collected here - satire, comedy, tragedy and pure narrative - demonstrates all the bold intelligence, integrity and extraordinary vividness for which he has become known.

The Road: Short Fiction and Essays by Vasily Grossman is translated by Robert and Elisabeth Chandler and published by Maclehose Press. (ISBN 1906694257)

Kenneth Steven - The Ice

2011-08-29T03:16:00.000-07:00

Kenneth Steven shows himself a master of the art of the short story. Always touching a spirtual dimension in a rabidly material world, he writes of people not quite feeling there in the lives they live, about the borderland between childhood and the adult world, of loss and missed opportunities, but also of hope and chances to be seized.

The Ice by Kenneth Steven is published by Argyll Publishing.

Romantic Novelists Association - Loves Me Loves Me Not

2011-08-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

Over 40 stories, from bittersweet holiday flings to emotional family weepies; from fun chick-lit tales to Regency romances.

Loves Me, Loves Me Not, with contributions from members of the Romantic Novelists Association, is published by Mira Books (ISBN 0552771791)

Aleksandar Hemon - Love and Obstacles

2011-08-29T03:10:00.000-07:00

Love and Obstacles is a collection of short stories by Aleksandar Hemon, in this app you will be able to read a short story from the collection, listen to another short audio story read by Aleksandar Hemon and watch an animation that brings the book to life. As well as links to buy Hemon’s ebooks there’s also a handy gadget for finding your nearest bookseller.

Love and Obstacles is about coming of age and the difficulties of growing up - which is never easy. But in a Communist yet cosmopolitan country, one which falls apart and leaves you spinning towards a new and overwhelming life abroad, the obstacles are many and various. Linked by a young narrator these exhilarating stories are shot through with deadpan humour and heartbreaking truth, found in the most surprising of places.

This will appeal to anyone who has read and loved J. M. Coetzee, Junot Diaz, Jonathan Franzen and David Nicholls. (Suitable from 16yrs + Developed by Vexed Digital).

Search LOVE AND OBSTACLES on the itunes app store now to download for free.

Love and Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon is published by Macmillan.

School Librarian Day

2011-04-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

National Short Story Week Director Ian Skillicorn was a keynote speaker at this year's SLA School Librarian Day, held at Brown's Books in Preston in April. Ian shared the platform with Bloomsbury children's author Jon Mayhew and the theme of the day was the short story.

It was an enjoyable and stimulating day and the school librarians present were able to give valuable feedback on the recommended reading list and Year 7 and 8 short story competition that form part of this year's National Short Story Week

Get Writing 2011

2011-02-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

National Short Story Week Director Ian Skillicorn appeared at this year's Get Writing conference at the University of Hertfordshire in February. Ian was on the "With the Innovators" panel with Scott Pack and Raymond Tallis, where they discussed the future of the book.

Still time to book your place for Get Writing 2011

2011-01-05T05:47:00.000-08:00

There's still time to book your place on the Get Writing conference at the University of Hertfordshire on February 19th. Conference organiser Jenny Barden says: "It’s the most marvellous opportunity for writers of all kinds to get together and meet with top industry professionals. Authors, agents, editors and other leaders associated with books and publishing will be giving talks and workshops and answering delegates’ questions. Ten agents and editors will be offering one-to-one pitching sessions. Sue Cook will be speaking as well as presenting the Get Writing Cup to the winner of the GW11 Short Story Competition (open to delegates for stories of up to 1500 words on any subject). All this will take place on Saturday 19th February, at the University of Hertfordshire’s smart new de Havilland Campus, in Hatfield near St Albans. (Book now at www.vwc.org.uk)."

Sarah Salway is January's guest editor

2011-01-05T05:45:00.000-08:00

We are delighted to start off 2011 with Sarah Salway as guest editor of the National Short Story Week website.

Read Sarah's tips and advice on short stories to fall in love with, five must-read single author collections, short stories with a difference, short story events for this month and much more...

National Short Story Week 2011

2010-12-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

Next year's National Short Story Week will take place between Monday 7th and Sunday 13th November 2011. Plenty of time to start planning how you will be celebrating the week!

We have a new logo for 2011 which reflects our three main aims of getting more people writing, reading and listening to short stories.

Get Writing 2011

2010-12-15T02:57:00.001-08:00

We are thrilled to be taking part in the Get Writing 2011 conference at the University of Hertfordshire on February 19th 2011. The event is the first of the year to be held in assocation with National Short Story Week and NSSW Director Ian Skillicorn and steering group member Sue Moorcroft will be taking part in workshops and discussions.

It promises to be an informative and enjoyable day for writers, featuring a host of top authors and publishing industry experts. Author and broadcaster Sue Cook headlines the event. Read more about it, and a message from Sue, here:

http://www.nationalshortstoryweek.org.uk/

Facebook and Twitter

2010-04-19T08:26:00.001-07:00

You can follow our progress as we promote National Short Story Week by joining our Facebook profile or signing up for our tweets on Twitter.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Short-Story-Week/113217142030803

http://twitter.com/ShortStoryWeek

National Short Story Week is November 22nd to 28th

2010-04-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

The UK's first National Short Story Week will be from November 22nd to 28th. There's more information on our website at www.nationalshortstoryweek.org.uk