Complete fiction: why 'the short story renaissance' is a myth

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 ]

Other news stories related to: "Complete fiction: why 'the short story renaissance' is a myth"

Just-right stories: The four best audiobooks of November 2020

In the mood for bite-sized entertainment? Essays about nature and outstanding short stories make for deep but quick listening this month. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-11-24 20:14:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Just-right stories: The four best audiobooks of November 2020

In the mood for bite-sized entertainment? Essays about nature and outstanding short stories make for deep but quick listening this month. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-11-24 20:14:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Just-right stories: The four best audiobooks of November 2020

In the mood for bite-sized entertainment? Essays about nature and outstanding short stories make for deep but quick listening this month. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-11-24 20:14:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Danielle Evans’s Sublime Short Stories of Race, Grief, and Belonging

“The Office of Historical Corrections,” an extraordinary new collection of fiction, examines alienation and the phantasmagoria of racial performance. Continue reading at New Yorker

[ New Yorker | 2020-11-21 16:01:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Stories Happen in the Space Between How We Feel and What We Say

Short stories are a complex form, one that author and professor Danielle Evans continues to show herself adept in. The ever-shifting opportunities of short fiction are evident in Evans’s work, from her debut collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self to her latest, The Office of... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-11-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Hilary Mantel’s next book will be a short story collection about her childhood.

This morning, Publishers Marketplace reported that two-time Booker Prize winner and historical fiction supremo Hilary Mantel has a new short story collection on the horizon. Learning to Talk, which will be released by Holt at some point next year, is billed as “a collection of loosely... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-18 18:07:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Souvankham Thammavongsa Wins 2020 Giller Prize

In a ceremony streamed live on Facebook, Souvankham Thammavongsa was awarded the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her collection of short stories 'How to Pronounce Knife.' It comes with a C$100,000 prize. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Intern’s Pick, by Sydney Stutler

Intern’s Picks Andrzej Sapkowski The Last Wish Trans. Danusia Stok Sword of Destiny Trans. David French Orbit “And our destiny. It isn’t a fairy story, it’s real life. Lousy, evil, onerous . . . not sparing anyone, neither witchers, nor queens” (Sword... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-11-04 14:28:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Destination: New Zealand, by Madeleine Dorst

Cultural Cross Sections From the town of Kaikoura on the South Island / Photo by the author New Zealand may be best known to many as Middle Earth (and that’s not a bad rep to have), but the country has much more than just the snowcapped Pass of... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2020-11-03 17:25:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this

The Things They Carried is finally being adapted for film (and the cast is insane).

Since its publication in 1990, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a linked collection of semi-autobiographical short stories about the Vietnam War, has become a modern classic—in fact, its title story is the most frequently anthologized piece of short fiction in the last three decades, and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-03 15:27:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Riot Recommendation: 53 of the Most Outstanding Short Stories You’ve Read

We asked for your favorite short stories and got a long list! Here are 53 of the most outstanding short stories our readers have read. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-11-02 11:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

WATCH: Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Stories of Horror

Welcome to the virtual book launch of Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Tales of Horror, brought to you by The Antibody Reading Series in collaboration with WORD Bookstore (buy from the bookstore here). Tonight’s guests include editors Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto, along with contributors Meg... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-10-29 23:30:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Riot Recommendation: What Outstanding Short Stories Have You Read?

Speak to us, oh lovers of short fiction: what are the most outstanding short stories you've read? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-10-27 10:31:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

17 Excellent Short Stories By Black Authors

These short stories by Black authors include some of the best Black short stories published, for middle graders, YA readers, and adults. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-10-16 10:37:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Korean American experience resonates in ‘The Prince of Mournful Thoughts’

The longing for connection, for belonging, is woven throughout a dozen short stories in Caroline Kim’s superlative debut collection. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-10-13 22:35:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Korean American experience resonates in ‘The Prince of Mournful Thoughts’

The longing for connection, for belonging, is woven throughout a dozen short stories in Caroline Kim’s superlative debut collection. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-10-13 22:35:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Korean American experience resonates in ‘The Prince of Mournful Thoughts’

The longing for connection, for belonging, is woven throughout a dozen short stories in Caroline Kim’s superlative debut collection. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2020-10-13 22:35:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this

How Much Does Your Job Shape Your Identity?

“You think you’ve known someone for a long time,” a character in one of Jenny Bhatt’s short stories says of her Indian colleague shortly after he’s shot dead by a white man in a bar. “Maybe he never really took to us. Never really became one of us.” Turn by turn, each of his white […] The post... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this

Are Frats and Sororities Really Just Cults?

What lengths will we go to in order to belong? To be part of something exclusive? To be part of a sisterhood or brotherhood? That’s the searing question that authors Benjamin Nugent and Genevieve Sly Crane try to answer in their books about college Greek life. Nugent’s Fraternity, a collection... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2020-10-02 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this