With soaring sales, viral hits like Cat Person and a cameo by Tom Hanks, the form seems to be staging a comeback. But did it ever go away?In 2017, almost 50% more short story collections were sold than in the previous year. It was the best year for short stories since 2010. Booksellers are reporting a surge in popularity for the form, commentators note publishers are buying more collections and issuing them with greater care and enthusiasm; in December the newcomer Kristen Roupenian cut five- and seven-figure deals in the UK and US after her New Yorker story “Cat Person” went viral. On top of all that, collections are being reviewed more than ever before, the Sunday Times EFG short story award (worth £30,000) has received its highest ever number of entries and the BBC national short story award continues to grow in popularity. We are experiencing the renaissance of the short story form, right?Wrong; which isn’t to say 2017 wasn’t a good year for the short story – it was, but the “renaissance of the short story” story is an old one that is rolled out year after year. Does that matter? I think it does. By getting caught up in this recurring phantom narrative, and dwelling on press release froth rather than the work being produced, we spurn the opportunity to talk about short stories in a way that might actually deepen how they are understood and engaged with by readers.How can the short story ever have time to wither, given the frequency of its rebirth?In the cases of Tom... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
Here are five 2025 mystery releases to have on your radar, from middle grade dark academia to short stories with sleuthing Jesuit priests. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2024-12-09 13:30:00 UTC ]
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Language of White Bones: The Secrets of Han Kang’s Poetic Prose, by Eun-Gwi Chung Essay [email protected] Thu, 12/05/2024 - 15:23 Photo of Han Kang by Paik Dahuim / Courtesy of Natur & KulturLike a clutch of words strewn over white... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-12-05 21:23:24 UTC ]
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Late in 1933, Dylan Thomas started writing a new short story. “The theme of the story I dreamed in a nightmare,” he wrote to a friend. “If successful, if the words fit to the thoughts, it will be one of the most ghastly short stories ever written.” Thomas was possessed, in part, by rejection.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-10-31 08:56:14 UTC ]
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Ten years ago he published the graphic novel “Here,” an instant classic depicting one room in one house over generations. Now Tom Hanks is starring in the movie. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-10-24 09:00:34 UTC ]
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Roger Allen: Translating Arabic and the Art of Translation, by Jonas Elbousty Interviews [email protected] Mon, 10/14/2024 - 14:56 Roger Allen was the first person to obtain a doctorate in modern Arabic literature at the University of Oxford. After... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-10-14 19:56:44 UTC ]
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Han Kang’s poetry and short stories are just as innovative and important as her novels. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2024-10-10 17:11:35 UTC ]
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Every time I read Jamie Quatro’s fiction—from her debut collection I Want to Show You More, to her 2018 novel Fire Sermon, to her short stories in the New Yorker—I experience the same edge-of-my-seat pleasure. Quatro’s characters are as alive as flesh-and-blood people; the Southern landscape... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2024-10-03 12:00:00 UTC ]
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In 1993, I published my first decent story in a literary journal and a few months later received a letter from an agent whose name I recognized. I’d written short stories in college classes, sent them off, and typically the only thing that came back was a rejection, housed in the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2024-10-01 11:10:00 UTC ]
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Rarely have I been so moved, awed, amused, satisfied, and softly startled by a debut, but The Only Sound Is the Wind, the gorgeous new fiction collection by Pascha Sotolongo, is a deft, accomplished, utterly fearless book of short stories that seamlessly meld the mundane and the transcendent,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-10-01 08:55:46 UTC ]
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The Short Stories of Moroccan Writer Mohamed Choukri: A Talk by Dr. Jonas Elbousty, by The Editors of WLT News and Events [email protected] Thu, 09/26/2024 - 13:32 The University of Oklahoma’s Center for Middle East Studies; Department of Modern... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-09-26 18:32:59 UTC ]
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Pedro Almodóvar's first book consists of a mix of short stories and personal essays that amount to 'a fragmentary autobiography.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-09-16 10:00:58 UTC ]
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Unit sales of English-language trade print books sold in Canada fell 2% in the first half of 2024 from the comparable period in 2023 at stores that report data to BookNet Canada. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-09-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Picture a teenager in a suburban Southern California Costco, lingering by the books tables while her parents shopped. There, between the boxed vacuums and party-size clamshells of croissants, I first encountered the writing of Ha Jin. His short story, “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town,” had... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-10 08:55:26 UTC ]
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Striding the Borderlands: Charles Ferdinand Ramuz’s Great Fear on the Mountain, by Alice-Catherine Carls Book Reviews [email protected] Thu, 09/05/2024 - 14:03 Caroline Cingria, C. F. Ramuz, pastel (1903) / Images courtesy of Noël CordonierLumen... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-09-05 19:03:58 UTC ]
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Comma Press has been publishing Palestinian short stories since 2008. Comma’s connection to Palestinian literature deepened however in 2014 when, shortly after bringing out the anthology, The Book of Gaza, all the writers we’d worked with on that book were subjected to 51 days of carpet bombing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-08-27 14:32:12 UTC ]
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Her novels and short stories often explored the lives of willful women who loved men who were crass, unfaithful or already married. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-07-29 02:48:48 UTC ]
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The author of humorous short stories finds emotional connections in tales that engage with tech. But he’s more interested in the ties between humans. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2024-07-24 09:04:44 UTC ]
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War, Trauma, and Human Courage: A Conversation with Zhang Ling, by Yan Lu Interviews [email protected] Mon, 07/22/2024 - 16:20 Zhang Ling is the author of ten novels, including A Single Swallow (trans. Shelly Bryant) and Where Waters Meet, the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-07-22 21:20:19 UTC ]
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“All Art Is History”: A Conversation with Parul Kapur, by Sangamithra Iyer Interviews [email protected] Tue, 07/16/2024 - 15:20 On March 26, 2024, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop co-sponsored an event at Yu and Me Books to celebrate the New... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-07-16 20:20:51 UTC ]
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A Conversation with Translators Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin, by Aitana Bellido Interviews [email protected] Mon, 07/08/2024 - 15:14 Charlotte Collins (left) and Ruth Martin (photo courtesy of Michael Jershov)With the Open University of... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2024-07-08 20:14:29 UTC ]
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