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 ]
The following story was chosen by Ottessa Moshfegh as the winner of the 2025 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize. The prize is awarded annually by Selected Shorts and a guest author judge. This story will be performed by an actor this spring. To hear more great short stories performed... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2025-05-28 11:10:00 UTC ]
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The author and activist, who was subject to a fatwa in 2000, has won the prestigious prize for translated fiction for her short stories about the lives of Muslim women. She and her translator Deepa Bhasthi explain how Heart Lamp’s themes ‘are universal’• ‘Radical translation’ of Heart Lamp by... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-05-23 12:00:30 UTC ]
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Seven queer African creative works you should know about, from short stories to music videos. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2025-05-15 13:05:42 UTC ]
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The Best American Series is a literary institution. But just in case you’re stumbling upon it for the first time: Each book in the annual series showcases of best short fiction and nonfiction in a given year, from short stories to essays, science and nature writing, to food writing. Each... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-05-14 13:00:31 UTC ]
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My last Lit Hub conversation with Karen E. Bender was in 2018, just before her collection The New Order was published. She mentioned that she read John Cheever’s short stories in graduate school: “Cheever’s sentences just made my brain light up. He packs more into a paragraph—about love,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-05-13 08:58:28 UTC ]
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In this interview, author Clea Young discusses the difference in inspiration between a novel and short stories with her new collection, Welcome to the Neighbourhood. The post Clea Young: Allow Yourself Fallow Periods To Recharge appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2025-05-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Mavis Gallant’s short stories are about people, especially women, who prefer to live on the social margins. I cherish one of them most of all. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2025-05-03 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent for children's book authors Mary Cummings explains the biggest mistake she sees in picture book pitches—and how you can avoid making that mistake. The post Picture Book or Short Story? Which is it? appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2025-05-03 12:00:00 UTC ]
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A powerhouse of the genre, she published around 100 short stories and 17 novels, one of which was adapted into the acclaimed film “The Lady Vanishes.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2025-04-17 22:03:17 UTC ]
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Viet Thanh Nguyen explains why most American literature is the literature of empire. | Lit Hub Criticism Moeen Farrokhi on translating literature into Farsi and life into English. | Lit Hub On Translation How unraveling a short story into a novel gave Natalia Theodoridou “permission to indulge... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-04-11 10:30:18 UTC ]
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April’s 10 best books range from short stories set in LA to a climate-change novel to a reappraisal of the American Revolution and its effects on other countries. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2025-04-11 10:00:14 UTC ]
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When I was nine years old my mother temporarily moved from our home in Los Angeles to New York City for a job in private banking. The family lore is that I wrote her letters, including short stories about a family of hamsters. I don’t remember what I was feeling then or why I did […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-25 08:58:26 UTC ]
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New Harper Lee short stories coming this fall, a day in the life of an audiobook narrator, the It Books of March, and more news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-03-09 15:00:00 UTC ]
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Eight unpublished stories by the To Kill a Mockingbird author will be issued later this year as The Land of Sweet ForeverNever-before-seen short stories by Harper Lee will be published later this year, it has been announced.Eight short stories written before the author started the novel that... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-03-04 16:09:02 UTC ]
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Before she published “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Lee had written short stories in which she explored some of its themes and characters. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2025-03-04 14:43:04 UTC ]
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Fall in love with this collection of short stories centering Indigenous love and what it is to make a relationship. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-28 13:00:00 UTC ]
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The longlist for the International Booker Prize 2025 “celebrates the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-25 18:01:05 UTC ]
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Every week, our weekly magazine The Commuter publishes a new work of flash fiction, poetry, and graphic narrative. For Black History Month, we’re looking to the archives for some of our favorite poetry and stories by Black writers, all available to read for free online. From Tara Campbell’s... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2025-02-21 12:05:00 UTC ]
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