Our annual pick of the most exciting debut fiction has previously tipped Sally Rooney and Louise Kennedy, Tom Crewe and Douglas Stuart. Here the class of 2024 tell us their storiesEach year since 2014, the Observer New Review’s writers and editors have read scores of forthcoming debut novels from authors based in the UK and Ireland in order to spotlight the best; here’s our pick of 2024. As ever, our only guide was the quality of the books in front of us. This year’s list includes industry-tipped titles snapped up by big-spending publishers, but also a canny acquisition from a small independent press. There’s a third book from someone already widely celebrated as a writer of short stories, and even a debut from an actual Observer journalist. These are simply the books we rated most – and we think you’ll love them too.In previous years, we led you to Douglas Stuart’s Booker-winning Shuggie Bain, Gail Honeyman’s global bestseller Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Sheena Patel’s cult indie hit I’m a Fan. Last year’s picks continue to hoover up honours. Tom Crewe’s The New Life won the Orwell prize for fiction, while Michael Magee (Close to Home) won the Rooney prize, awarded to an outstanding Irish writer under 40. Both writers are on the shortlist for this month’s Nero debut fiction prize, along with Stephen Buoro, another of our 2023 picks.I’d take the washing up shifts no one else wanted so I could be at the back, jotting things downThere’s violence, but it’s about... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-14 07:00:20 UTC ]
What are some of the best short stories about childhood, and the experiences of children? Although there are dozens of classic tales about those formative years, the following stories represent, for our money, some of the finest stories about children taking the rocky path of knowledge and... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-08-05 14:00:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this
One of the central questions I had when shaping my story collection, Proof of Me, was how to invite into it a unified feel, how to place each story to be in conversation—geographically, thematically, linearly—with what follows. I also sought for each story to stand on its own, offering a... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-08-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On this special Member Exclusive episode of Ursa Short Fiction, authors Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and Dawnie Walton (The Final Revival of Opal & Nev) offer a comprehensive guide to the business of publishing—from submitting short stories to literary magazines, to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 08:51:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Dhumketu (1892-1965), one of the towering figures of Gujarati literature, often described the short story form as an incomparable flower in the garden of literature, as delicate as the juhi, as exquisitely beautiful as a golden bird, as electrifying as a bolt of lightning. For him, the short... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-01 08:51:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Writers of short stories have said a great deal about relationships of various kinds, and although the novel may be the preferred form for teasing out the complexities and conflicts of a long-term relationship, the short-story form can also provide writers with enough space to pinpoint a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-07-29 14:00:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Six of the 13 writers in contention for the prestigious British literary award are from the United States, with novelists from Britain, Ireland and Zimbabwe also on the list. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-26 14:51:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Today in extremely niche literary world factoids: in case you didn’t know (I did not) Zadie Smith has a younger brother named Ben Bailey Smith, an actor and standup who goes by Doc Brown, admires Taylor Swift’s writing ability, and features in Netflix’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-20 16:07:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Netflix adaptation is yet more proof of the long-overlooked novel's newfound popularity. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-14 12:00:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Morgan Talty’s The Night of the Living Rez is a searching and honest collection of short stories following a young Penobscot character named David and his coming of age on the rez, where community, family, and tradition are as fraught with colonial entanglement as they are forces for healing. ... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-06 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
What are the best short stories about the theme of motherhood? And who are the best mother characters in short fiction? Below, we select and introduce some of the most famous, and most widely studied, short stories which deal with the subject of mothers and motherhood. These stories range from […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-07-01 14:00:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
I cooked my way through a cookbook inspired by Jane Austen's novels, and it opened up the world of the books to me. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-30 10:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
From ghost stories to chilling horror tales to short retellings of classic fairy tales, the short story form has often been at home to the supernatural. Below, we select and introduce ten of the very best short stories which feature some supernatural element: a ghost, a magical talisman, a... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-06-24 14:00:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this
From one-tweet fiction to serialized short stories and retellings, Twitterature demonstrated the literary possibilities of Twitter. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-06-23 10:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Kate Clanchy’s memoir about teaching won the Orwell prize. Then, a year later, it became the centre of a storm that would engulf the lives of the author, her critics and dozens of people in the book trade. So what happened?At the end of March, a book that had been condemned to die came back to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-18 08:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Pym’s novels — witty tales of domestic life in British villages — have been compared to the works of Jane Austen. I see a link to Joyce, too. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-14 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Genuinely classic and canonical short stories with twist endings are hard to find. For the ‘twist’ to be a true surprise, it needs to appear to come out of nowhere while also being completely credible, so we as readers don’t feel cheated. It should also be a twist in the […] Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-06-10 14:00:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Two previously unseen short stories by Jackson, rated by Stephen King as one of the great horror fiction writers, are to appear in US magazine the StrandTwo previously unpublished short stories by Shirley Jackson, the queen of gothic fiction, have been released.Charlie Roberts and Only Stand and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-06-09 14:05:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Do you like the Best American series? Of course you do! Each book in the annual series showcases of best short fiction and nonfiction in a given year, from short stories to essays, travel writing, to food writing. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-06 14:51:57 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Fathers are often domineering or formative presences in fiction, and the following classic short stories all focus on the important influence of fathers on their children, even though, in at least one of the stories listed here, the father is absent from the story itself. These stories are among... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2022-06-03 14:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this