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 Little Mermaid sacrifices her tail for a human soul. The Navajo Changing Woman grows old and is reborn with the seasons. The nymph Daphne becomes a tree to escape lovesick Apollo. Women transform because we are hungry. We transform because we’re restless, and because we’re dangerous. Women... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-28 11:00:00 UTC ]
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From The New Yorker’s archive: short stories by Zadie Smith, Jennifer Egan, and Stephen King. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2020-08-16 10:00:00 UTC ]
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The most iconic short stories in the English language, as determined by that “weird and wiggly” hive-mind, the American cultural consciousness. | Lit Hub Jill Filipovic on how Boomers—“the generation with the least stable marriages in American history”—changed family life forever. | Lit Hub... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-13 10:30:25 UTC ]
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Last year, I put together this list of the most iconic poems in the English language; it’s high time to do the same for short stories. But before we go any further, you may be asking: What does “iconic” mean in this context? Can a short story really be iconic in the way of a […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-08-13 08:50:36 UTC ]
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Among the big books sold this week are a nonfiction book from former National Security Council member Fiona Hill, a nonfiction book on skyscrapers, and a book about how sports is helping the country to transform its understanding of sex and gender. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Ingrid Persaud made the grandest of debuts in the literary world by winning the BBC Short Story Award in 2018 with “The Sweet Sop,” the first short story she ever wrote. After this extremely auspicious beginning, the Trinidad-born writer, whose resume includes stints in legal academia and art... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-08-04 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Jojo Moyes' The Giver of Stars (Penguin) has soared into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 25,331 copies through Nielsen BookScan's TCM in its first full week on the shelves. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-04 00:24:26 UTC ]
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A Chicago brewery is partnering with Hat and Beard Press to cross-promote craft beer and a new collection of short stories by Sam Weller by brewing an Imperial stout with a label that replicates the cover of 'Dark Black.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-08-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The Boston Book Festival has announced that a short story by Grace Talusan is the 10th annual selection for its One City One Story initiative. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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At Lit Hub, David Karashima asked five Japanese writers, including Yoko Ogawa and Masatsugu Ono, to discuss their favorite short stories by Haruki Murakami. Mieko Kawakami, author of Breasts and Eggs, praises the story on loneliness and lost, “Tony Takitani.” “I think of Murakami as an athlete,”... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-07-22 20:30:36 UTC ]
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Bookshops reopening since lockdown restrictions eased have boosted the market 18% in volume against the same period in 2019, with 14.6 million books sold since shop doors opened. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-17 09:17:49 UTC ]
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Bonnier Books UK is releasing 500 Words: Black Lives Matter, a book featuring short stories children have submitted to a Chris Evans-devised Virgin Radio competition this month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-16 10:43:26 UTC ]
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With bookshops still closed in parts of the UK, sales have surpassed last year’s numbers, with 3.8m print books sold in the last weekBritain’s readers have been emerging from lockdown to restock their bookshelves, with book sales – and particularly crime novels – booming in the three weeks since... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-07-07 16:17:09 UTC ]
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Drew and Christopher chat with Hilary Leichter in three different Damn Libraries for another first of its kind digital episode—our first Zoom guest! We discuss Hilary’s novel Temporary which leads to talk about things like gig work, her love of pirates, and how the book started as a short story.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-26 09:33:39 UTC ]
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Faber is to publish a collection of short stories by John Lanchester this autumn. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-18 08:59:04 UTC ]
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In 2016, the internet was rife with divisive opinions over Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You. The novel, published in 2012, chronicled the relationship between a recently-paralyzed man, Will, and his caregiver, Louisa. The 2016 film, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin, faced significant backlash... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-06-17 19:59:59 UTC ]
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Short stories by contemporary Italian writers are hard to come across and almost none of them make it across the Atlantic. Booksellers and publishers seem to stay away from them because—what’s new?—they sell less, as they apparently lack “the immersive factor.” However, readers in the twentieth... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-16 08:48:49 UTC ]
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‘The Man of the Crowd’ is one of the shorter short stories written by Edgar Allan Poe (who pioneered the short story form when it was still an emerging force in nineteenth-century magazines and periodicals). Written in 1840, the story is deliciously enigmatic and, in some ways, prefigures later... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2020-06-02 14:00:22 UTC ]
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While many readers have understandably found refuge from pandemic anxiety with thick biographies and door-stopping classics, others have had trouble focusing for long periods. With work laptops constantly open and homeschooled children orbiting, the solution to our short attention spans might be... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-06-02 08:48:22 UTC ]
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Jojo Moyes has written a story featuring the heroine of her bestselling novel Me Before You, Lou Clark, and exploring how the character may be coping in lockdown. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-31 14:08:36 UTC ]
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