Short Stories

Here are some jaw-dropping short story collections which we’re highlighting to mark the release of the 15th Bristol Short Story Prize anthology. They feature finely chiselled and deftly wrought tales, showcasing the form in all its honed-down glory. One of the beauties of the form is that it offers sudden and powerful encounters without the padding or distraction of longer fiction. Perhaps start with the ground-breaking Nikolai Gogol, included because not only is it full of unforgettable stories but it also features The Overcoat (first published in 1842) which may well mark the birthplace of what we know as the modern short story.

Liberation Day

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Where the Wild Ladies Are

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Contemporary Irish Writing

All the writers listed come highly recommended, but if you are looking for excellent writing that also captures the experience of place in Ireland, look to Niamh Campbell who brilliantly captures an up-to-the-minute, post-recessionary Dublin in We Were Young. Or Anne Enright’s The Gathering, which is a powerful account of a family unpacking its dark history against the backdrop of a dramatically different, Celtic Tiger-era Dublin. Claire-Louise Bennett’s Pond centres on a woman’s life in a Galway cottage written in her highly original and innovative prose.
Claire Keegan’s chilling novel Small Things Like These transports you to the 1980s, to a small Wexford town still in the grips of the Catholic clergy. And for writing that immerses you in the Irish landscape, both Sara Baume and Kerri ni Dochartaigh write beautifully on connection to land and sea.

Some Favourite Crime Writing

Good crime writing needs to be well plotted and tautly told, but really good crime writing is always about much more than just the mystery. Here are some greats, both classic and contemporary. Detectives soaked in moral ambiguity; investigations that run from the most exclusive mansions in the California hills down to skid row through all the fascinating social strata in between; perfect neighbours who become murderous monsters in one snap; avenging scourges devouring cassoulet and despatching nemeses; cinematic London peasoupers concealing vicious opportunists; all of life (and much death) is between the covers of these excellent books.

Harlem Shuffle

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