The Salt Frank O’Connor Prize Blog

Festival Photos

2008-09-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

If you were there, we'd love to include your photos in our slideshow! Please contact jen: jen[at]saltpublishing.com. Meanwhile, sit back, relax and enjoy the show:

Jhumpa Lahiri interviewed in the Irish Times

2008-09-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

Jhumpa Lahiri, winner of this year's Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, talks to The Irish Times Literary Correspondent and member of the judging jury, Eileen Battersby.

Read the interview by following this link: A Serious Voice in a Brash World

The Frank O'Connor Festival 2008

2008-09-24T03:29:00.000-07:00

I've been back a couple of days now and only just about recovered enough to write about the time I spent at the Frank O'Connor Festival in Cork. I guess that means that I did it right! The festival started on Wed 17th Sept; I arrived late on the 19th. The full programme is here -- usually the line-up comprises the shortlisted authors and as there was no official shortlist this year, I like to think that the people who read would have been on it (certainly, they deserved to be). I met so many people, heard so many stories, saw so many fantastic sights, it's difficult to condense it all. But hopefully the following account gives you some idea of how it all went.

Friday, 19th September:

Today our short story author Charles Lambert travelled up to Cambridge and came to visit us in the office. What a treat it was for us and I'm only sorry we couldn't spend longer with him. We did a quick video recording of him talking about his work for our website and then it was a case of rushing off into Cambridge to start my journey to Cork. I am rather ashamed to admit that this was only my second trip to Ireland, with my first one being in 1989 when I brought the New Year in in Dublin after a U2 concert (my memory of that is rather hazy), so I was greatly looking forward to being in Ireland again, as well the festival.

I was met at the airport by Eva from the Munster Literature Centre, who organise the award and the festival. She took me to my hotel, I had a quick shower and then made way way to the reading venue, The Triskel Arts Centre, which was a rather pleasant 15 mins walk through Cork city centre. The sun was setting, casting beautiful light on the painted buildings of the city, the streets were busy as shops were still open and on every lamp post down the main shopping street were banners advertising the festival, which I must say was a thrilling sight. I found my way to the alley opposite the art nouveau cinema and sat down at the back of a packed auditorium to hear the end of Mary O'Donnell's reading (how I wished I'd heard the beginning!). Then there was a break; folk filed out into the pub across the alleyway and I was pleased to finally meet Pat Cotter, festival director, as well as Salt authors Vanessa Gebbie, Carys Davies and Tania Hershman. Tania had read that afternoon as part of the Southword journal showcase - I was sorry to have missed her. A quick drink and catch up and then back in the hall to sit back and enjoy readings from Cork-based novelist Mary Leland and San-Francisco-based Wena Poon, who is originally from Singapore. Wena performed for 40 minutes and I wished she'd kept going - so lively and refreshing.

Far from being the end of the evening, it was sort of the start of it: in true Gaelic tradition, off we went to the pub and stayed until the wee small hours. Declan from The Stinging Fly walked me back to the hotel at some ungodly hour and just as we'd stepped out in the street told me that the last time he was out late away from home ended up in A&E. Glad he warned me, and gladder that he didn't repeat it.

Saturday 20th September

My wedding anniversary. Called home and was rather touched (and surprised) that husband wished me a happy anniversary immediately, without any prompting. At breakfast I remembered how grumpy I am in the mornings before a decent caffeine hit and later felt the need to apologise for my bad behaviour (example: Q to me: "Do you write, Jen?' Me, looking aghast: 'When would I have the time to do that?!' Grr). Vowed that the next morning I'd try to avoid happy, awake people.

Did a quick spot of shopping for children's presents and then back to the Triskel Arts Centre to hear who had won the Sean O'Faolain Prize, which was judged this year by Nuala Ni Chonchuir. It was New jersey writer Julia Van Middlesworth, who then read her winning story 'Daddy Dead' -- so wonderful and moving in every way; a worthy winner and a wonderful reading and end to morning.

I had to rush my lunch and couldn't eat much of it for the next session was the panel discussion on 'The State of the Art', which I was taking part in, alongside Rosalind Porter, Senior Ed at Granta, Declan from the Stinging Fly and Lucy Luck, Literary Agent. It was a lively interesting discussion that could have gone on much longer. Hopefully the audience were left feeling that the short story has a future and that there are people out there supporting it and getting it out into the world, and even trying to eke out a living from selling them.

This was followed a series of mind-blowing, gut wrenching readings, packed with emotion at every level. Salt authors Carys Davies and Vanessa Gebbie kicked off. I have read their stories many times but despite knowing every word they still affected me. Carys's voice was a bit croaky and she gave the occasional sniff - she denies that this was her being emotional, but whatever it was, it was very effective and I swear there wasn't a dry eye on the house. After Vanessa's reading, people were in need of a swift one in the pub before the evening session (for all the right reasons!). Alison McLeod gave a stunning performance of her story 'Dirty Weekend', which honestly took me a walk around the block to recover from, followed by Simon Robson (one of last year's shortlisted authors) -- he has the most wonderful voice and I could listen to him reading out a telephone directory. Julie Orringer's story was next, which haunted me that evening, infiltrated my dreams and I still felt the horror of it when I woke up in the morning. And lastly, Bernard MacLaverty read 'The Clinic' full of wit, which I must admit, I was grateful for.

We left for the pub full of every emotion possible, on a high, pumped with passion for the short story in all its wonderful forms. I went to bed at 3am.

Sunday 21 September

I woke up at 8am, head swimming, and made it down to breakfast for about 9.30. Carys and I went out into the town: she signed copies of her book in Waterstones and I had some more caffeine. Then we headed back to the hotel for lunch with Jhumpa Lahiri, winner of the Frank O'Connor Prize. It is always a pleasure meeting new authors in real life and I was pleased to get the chance to exchange a few words with her. After lunch, Vanessa and I decided that rather than go to our rooms for some sleep (which others were doing, I don't know, some folk can't take the pace), we'd go for a walk into town to see if we could find the City Hall where the prize ceremony was to be held that evening. The sun was shining (don't believe the story that it rains a lot in Cork - it's a vicious rumour designed by the people of Cork so that they can keep the place to themselves) and it was good to get a breather and stretch our legs, use our eyes instead of our ears, and take in a bit of that fine city. We stumbled across a peace festival in a park and spent an hour or so listening to music, having a bit of a jiggle and looking around. Just what the doctor ordered.

The grand finale was the awarding of the prize to Jhumpa Lahiri in the Cork City Hall by the Deputy Lord Mayor. She then read a piece from her winning book and was interviewed by Eileen Battersby. All wonderfully interesting!

I had an earlish night that evening (though it was still after closing time - I hate to miss out on things) and was up before the crack of dawn to catch my plane back home. The taxi driver asked where we'd eaten - I told him and he said, 'oh you'll get a good sandwich in there: nice thick bread.' What a wonderful parting shot - how I love Cork!

I'll put together a slide show of some of the wonderful people I met, too many to mention here. Thank you to Pat and everyone at the Munster Literature Centre for such a fantastic event and for looking after everyone so well.

Salt at the Frank O'Connor Festival

2008-09-04T03:22:00.000-07:00

It's just around the corner now and Salt will be there!

On Saturday, 20th September:

"The State of the Art - a Discussion"

Chaired by Rosalind Porter Senior Editor at
Granta and including the participation of Stinging Fly editor
Declan Meade, Jen Hamilton-Emery, commissioning editor at Salt, Seamus Hosey RTE Radio producer
and organiser of the Francis McManus Awards and Lucy Luck, literary agent.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 2.30pm. Admission: Free.

"Salt no Vinegar Please: Carys Davies & Vanessa Gebbie - A Reading"

Readings by two of the eight Salt authors longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award this year. Salt is now
the world’s most prolific publisher of short story collections and we are delighted to be able to showcase
both the publisher and their authors Carys Davies and Vanessa Gebbie.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 4.30pm. Admission: Free.

Frank O'Connor Prize Winner Announced

2008-07-08T02:19:00.001-07:00

I've been away for a couple of weeks so haven't had a chance to post this update, which by now I'm sure everyone is aware of. This year in a surprise move, the Frank O'Connor judges decided to skip drawing up a shortlist but instead to go straight for the awarding of the prize. And the winner is - - - Jhumpa Lahiri's 'Unaccustomed Earth'.

Many congratulations to Jhumpa Lahiri.

There's an article in The Guardian here on the winning book.

Story from 'The Searching Glance' on Radio 4 this week

2008-06-28T01:59:00.000-07:00

The Weight of the Earth and the Lightness of the Human Heart, from Linda Cracknell's collection The Searching Glance is an afternoon reading on BBC Radio 4 this Friday 4th July at 3.30pm. Read more

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Linda Cracknell's 'Searching Glance' interview with Books from Scotland

2008-06-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

The ‘quietness’ of the short story genre means less attention for writers on the whole, so the most obvious first question to ask is: why write short stories, as they’re a difficult genre to publish and sell?
Although I’ve written in other forms, the short story’s my first love and choosing what I write isn’t generally commercially influenced. Images or voices just ‘arrive’ with me and I know there’s going to be something brief and bright about their place in a piece of writing. When I write radio plays or longer narratives, the work originates in quite a different way. I don’t find that ideas migrate well between the forms – an idea for a radio play is just that. It might be adapted to work on a stage as well, but it’s certainly never going to be a short story.

I came across the expression ‘the searching glance’ in relation to portrait photography, but it struck me as very fitting for the short story form itself... read on

Vanessa Gebbie at West Cork Literary Festival, 6 - 12 July

2008-06-16T03:01:00.000-07:00

The West Cork Literary Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, with a wonderful lineup of novelists, poets short fiction writers, workshops, readings, competitions, even a 'literary dating agency'!

The short story is celebrated particularly beautifully, with free story readings three times a day in different venues.

Vanessa G is reading on Thursday 10th July at Bantry Bookshop, 11.00 am

V is also running a flash fiction competition during the festival... check out the website:
http://www.westcorkliteraryfestival.ie/

.

Carys Davies Reading at Heffers, Cambridge

2008-06-12T03:10:00.000-07:00

Carys Davies will be reading from her short story collection, Some New Ambush, at Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge at 6.30pm on Tuesday, 17th June.

Come along to meet Carys and to hear Andre Mangeot read from his forthcoming collection of short stories, A Little Javanese, which will be launched on the night.

RSVP: suzanne.jones@heffers.co.uk

The Short Review reviews Balancing on the Edge of the World

2008-06-11T09:59:00.001-07:00

Melissa Lee Houghton reviews Balancing on the Edge of the World by Elizabeth Baines for Issue 8 of The Short Review:

Frank, original prose underpins all the stories and the central motif, power, in Balancing... This is a stunning debut collection by a writer whose prose deliberates its characters with a keen sense of literary drama.

Lincoln Salutes their Local Author

2008-06-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

William Guy, author of The I Love You Book, has been interviewed by the Lincolnshire Echo on his longlisting for the Frank O'Connor Prize. You can read the interview in full here.

Richard Bardsley: RIDE THE WORD 25th June

2008-06-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ride the Word
Wednesday 25th June 2008 7.30 - 9.00 pm, hosted by Ernie Burns and Vincent De Souza
Borders 203-207 Oxford Street, London W1D 2LE

Sascha Akhtar - Salt poet
Richard Bardsley - Salt short story writer
Vincent De Souza - Salt poet
Jay Merill - Salt short story writer
Andrew Syers - dramatist

Join the Story Bank now and support the short story with your subscription today

2008-06-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Support the short story now by subscribing to the best writing in our groundbreaking series of gorgeous books.

Each Story Bank cased edition is beautifully typeset for you in Gerard Unger’s Swift, and comes with a matt-laminated jacket designed by leading design agency The Cover Factory. Every copy is foil blocked with coloured endpapers and is printed in Britain on Vancouver Cream Bookwove paper.

Subscribe to Salt’s Story Bank for the best in new writing from the UK’s biggest champion of the short story.

Subscribing to Salt’s Story Bank is an excellent way of supporting the genre, as well as supporting Salt’s efforts to keep it thriving.

From just £40 you can subscribe to Salt’s Story Bank for one year and receive the following benefits:

Four luxury, first edition, hardback books, selected for you by our own Editor, delivered to you post-free

30% discount on ALL Salt books, including our full range of short stories, poetry and critical books

A FREE copy of the highly-acclaimed Sawn-off Tales by David Gaffney as a welcome present to new subscribers

Special offers and subscriber-only benefits

A subscription makes the perfect gift! Share in our passion for the short story by subscribing today. It’s easy to do, just add your choice of subscription NOW! Read more...

Vanessa Gebbie Interviewed on Book Addicts' Guide to Good Books

2008-06-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Eric Forbes is a book editor who lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is in love with reading good books -- and with the redeeming nature of literature. He's putting a lot of effort into tracking down and interviewing all the authors on the Frank O'Connor longlist. His latest interview is with, Vanessa Gebbie, author of Words From a Glass Bubble.

You can read Vanessa's interview here.

Richard Bardsley Interview

2008-06-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

Richard was interviewed in Eric Forbes's Book Addict's Guide To Good Books on June 1st.

To read the full piece, please click here.

For more information about the author and Body Parts: The Anatomy Of Love, please click here.

Review of Linda Cracknell's recent reading from 'The Searching Glance' in Dumfries

2008-05-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

The Robert Burns Centre saw the welcome return last week of two well-kent writers who took part in a Short Story Evening. Linda Cracknell, who has been involved with the CREATE Team doing workshops in Dumfries and Galloway schools, and Sara Maitland, Galloway’s own homegrown writer who grew up near Dalbeattie. Sara recently returned to live in Galloway with her husband who is a dairy farmer.

Sara and Linda are also well- known to each other as Sara was Linda’s tutor when as a young writer she embarked on an Open College of Arts course. They also worked together again on a British Council led project, pairing established British writers with young African writers being mentored and tutored through email.

The Short Story Evening was extremely lively and enjoyable, chaired with great skill and dexterity by local writer and lecturer Tom Pow.

The writers began by reading from their new collections .... read on

Salt Invited to the Frank O'Connor Festival

2008-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

How chuffed am I -- I've been invited by the wonderful people at Frank O'Connor Prize to attend their awards festival in September! They have asked me to take part in a round-table discussion on the short story. I am so pleased to be invited; what a fantastic opportunity to meet the world's short story movers and shakers. Oh, and to see Cork!

I was interviewed the other week by Teddy Jamieson at The Herald -- he's on a mission to read a short story every day for a year and wanted to know Salt's experience of the genre. There's a link to the interview here, but do keep an eye on his Short Cuts blog (Salt's Carys Davies & Charles Yu make appearances), it's a really inspiring read.

BIG FESTIVAL, LITTLE BOOKSHOP...

2008-05-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

WEST CORK LITERARY FESTIVAL, BANTRY, IRELAND. July 6th -12th

As Lord Puttnam said,

The best food, the most fun and the nicest people in Europe, what more could anyone want - other than an all but obsessive interest in good writing; along with the desire to celebrate the work of those who have made a success of it. The West Cork Literary Festival is a brilliant event.

O'Connor's Restaruant in Bantry. The best fish restaurant in the world. Probably.

This festival is organised by the wonderful Fish Publishing team. The short story is dear to their hearts… and there are free readings throughout the week, three a day in various venues. I’m reading on Thursday 10th in the bookshop,the title story from Words from a Glass Bubble. Probably.

There’s the Fish Prize award party on Monday 7th. That’ll be fun. David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) judged the main short story competition. Michael Thorsnes will award the Poetry prize. I judged the One Page Story Competition, and awarded it to a journalist from Glasgow. Wonder if he’ll be going? I’d love to meet him.

I’m running a microfiction competition daily from Tuesday 8th to Friday 11th. Starting it with a slightly mad 100 word paragraph, and inviting writers of the next paragraph hopefuls to post them into boxes all over Bantry. Then comes picking ‘em all up every day, deciding which is best, and there’ll be a wee party every evening with readings, until the complete 5000 wd story is revealed on Friday! And the prize…

TWO POETS, MUSIC, and a STORYTELLER June 12th

The Skylark is a beautiful, tiny shop in the wonderfully named Needlemakers’ Centre in Lewes, East Sussex… selling folk music CDs, eclectic gifts, and… books.

There is an evening of poetry music and storytelling on Thursday 12 June in the Needlemakers’ Café, featuring poets Catherine Smith and Janet Sutherland, and meself. Tickets are on sale from Skylark, and are limited. The café is not big!

Frank O'Connor longlister David Gaffney presents Destroy Powerpoint

2008-05-28T03:31:00.000-07:00

It's great to be longlisted for the Frank O'Connor prize - but I bet I would have had a better chance of getting on the short list had my book Aromabingo been presented in PowerPoint format. Well, it's not, but you can see my project Destroy Powerpoint, a set of ultra short stories about powerpoint and presented in a powerpoint format, in London on 17th June at the Bath House pub in Soho.

David Gaffney

Elizabeth Baines interviewed by Eric Forbes

2008-05-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Eric Forbes’s Book Addict’s Guide to Good Books

ELIZABETH BAINES was born in South Wales and lives in Manchester. She has been a teacher and is an occasional actor as well as the prize-winning author of plays for radio and stage, and of two novels, The Birth Machine and Body Cuts. Her award-winning short stories have been published widely in magazines and anthologies. Balancing on the Edge of the World (Salt Publishing, 2007), her first collection, was recently longlisted for the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.

Buy all eight Salt books on Amazon

2008-05-27T12:58:00.001-07:00

All eight Salt titles are available and in stock at Amazon, why not buy them all now and make your own mind up about who should win the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award?

Elizabeth Baines: Balancing on the Edge of the World

Richard Bardsley: Body Parts: The Anatomy of Love

Linda Cracknell: The Searching Glance

Carys Davies: Some New Ambush

David Gaffney: Aromabingo

Vanessa Gebbie: Words from a Glass Bubble

William Guy: The I Love You Book

Padrika Tarrant: Broken Things

Sam Leith congratulates Vanessa Gebbie in The Telegraph blog

2008-05-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

And, I'm proud as punch to say, it paid off. In the last couple of weeks I've had happy news from two of our five winners. Vanessa Gebbie's first collection of short stories ...

Padrika Tarrant stories, hear them now!

2008-05-27T11:54:00.001-07:00

Hear Padrika Tarrant read three stories from Broken Things, her Frank O'Connor nominated title.

Play Coffinwood (7.2 MB)

Play Cutpurse (6.6 MB)

Play Nightmare (2 MB)

Elizabeth Baines in Interview with Adrian Slatcher

2008-05-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

'Some New Ambush' Longlisted for the Wales Book of the Year Award

2008-05-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

As well as being on the Frank O’Connor Longlist, Carys Davies’ collection of short stories, ‘Some New Ambush’ has been longlisted for the Wales Book of the Year: a longlist of 10, from over 200 entries.
Here is a picture of Carys at the Longlist Award ceremony.

Linda Cracknell’s launch at The Watermill, Aberfeldy

2008-05-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Carys Davies’ launch at Dukes Theatre, Lancaster

2008-05-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Baines talks about her stories

2008-05-27T05:58:00.001-07:00

Carys Davies reviewed in The Independent

2008-05-27T05:54:00.000-07:00

Paperbacks:
Some New Ambush
Reviewed by Christopher Hirst & Boyd Tonkin
Friday, 5 October 2007

Some New Ambush, By Carys Davies (Salt £8.99)

Already known for its poetry, Salt is developing an ever-stronger short-story list as well. The 15 pieces in Carys Davies's darkly funny and unsettling collection usually begin with "quite small things", only to edge gently into an emotional abyss in dank Welsh towns, airless Victorian parlours or mouldering libraries

Read more ...

Nicholas Clee on Padrika Tarrant's Broken Things

2008-05-27T05:51:00.001-07:00

The Weirdness of the Everyday

Nicholas Clee on Broken Things | Shadows in Wonderland

Saturday April 12, 2008
The Guardian

Broken Things, by Padrika Tarrant (Salt, £12.99)
In Padrika Tarrant's fabulous, unsettling collection, psychosis offers surreal insights, with her protagonists feeling themselves blessed with an ability to see beyond the surface of things.

Read more ...

Vanessa Gebbie’s launch at the Foundling Museum

2008-05-27T05:48:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Salt Frank O’Connor Prize blog!

2008-05-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

For the second year running Salt has a wide range of new authors in the world's leading short story prize: The Frank O'Connor Prize..

Check out the prizes titles:

BRITAIN (14 authors including 8 authors from Salt Publishing)

James Waddington (BRITAIN)
Torc
Ogo Press, Honley, Holmfirth, UK

Clare Wigfall (BRITAIN)
The Loudest Sound and Nothing
Faber & Faber Ltd, London, UK

Niki Aguirre (BRITAIN)
29 Ways to Drown
Flipped Eye Publishing, Manchester, UK

Wendy Perriam (BRITAIN)
Little Marvel and Other Stories
Robert Hale Limited, London, UK

David Gaffney (BRITAIN)
Aroma Bingo
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

Carys Davies (BRITAIN)
Some New Ambush
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

Elizabeth Baines (BRITAIN)
Balancing on the Edge of the World
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

Padrika Tarrant (BRITAIN)
Broken Things
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

Linda Cracknell (BRITAIN)
The Searching Glance
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

William Guy (BRITAIN)
The I Love You Book
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

Vanessa Gebbie (BRITAIN)
Words From a Glass Bubble
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

Richard Bardsley (BRITAIN)
Body Parts – The Anatomy of Love
Salt Publishing Ltd, Cambridge, Uk

Robert Shearman (BRITAIN)
Tiny Deaths
Comma Press, Manchester, Uk

Adam Marek (BRITAIN)
Instruction Manual for Swallowing
Comma Press, Manchester, Uk