In today’s world, there is ample evidence of the return of borders worldwide; as a material reality, as a concept, and as a way of thinking. Edited by Barbara Korte and Laura Lojo-Rodriguez, Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story focuses on the ways in which the contemporary British short story mirrors, questions and engages with border issues in national and individual life. It discusses the work of wide range writers including Zadie Smith, Anne Enright, Kamila Shamsie, Valda Jackson, Andrea Levy, Sarah Hall, Hanif Kureishi, China Mieville, Daisy Johnson, Jon McGregor and Helen Simpson, and includes a chapter in which Pete Kalu reflects on his own practice as a Black British writer.
Short Fiction in Theory and Practice 9.1
Latest issue of Short Fiction in Theory and Practice out now, with articles on Alice Munro, and Elizabeth Strout and new collaborative fiction from Rupert Loydell and Amy Lilwall. There is also an interview with Tessa Hadley and a review of new books on editing. Graham Mort’s story, ‘Emporium’ explores the short story as ‘humble’ fiction from a practice-based perspective, introducing the topic ahead of the forthcoming ENSFR conference on this topic.
Narratives of Community in the Black British Short Story
We are pleased to announce the publication of Bettina Jansen’s new book, Narratives of Community in the Black British Short Story, which has just come out with Palgrave. More details can be found here.
Short Fiction in Theory and Practice Special Issues
Short Fiction in Theory and Practice 7.2 and 8.1 & 2 are all available now. 7.2 is a special issue on ‘Haunting in the Short Story’, with articles from the conference held at the University of Angers in 2015. The double issue 8. 1 & 2 contains articles from the ENSFR annual conference held at Edge Hill in 2016 on the theme ‘”Child of the Century”: Reading and Writing Short Fiction Across Media. It also contains an exclusive translation by Lyn Marven of a story by German writer Roman Ehrlich, and an interview with him by Lyn Marven and Andrew Plowright.
9.1, a general issue, is in preparation for early 2019.
New publication on George Saunders’ Pastoralia
George Saunders’ Pastoralia: Bookmarked , by Charles Holdefer – New York: Ig Publishing (ISBN-13: 978-1632460639; $14.95 paperback; £10.89 ; €13.11)
George Saunders’ 2000 short story collection, Pastoralia, is an exaggerated and darkly humorous satire on American life at the turn of the twenty-first century, merging the spirit of James Thurber with the world of the Simpsons. In his entry in Ig’s acclaimed Bookmarked series, award-winning author Charles Holdefer addresses how this collection, and the writing of Saunders, influenced his journey as an author.
Jennifer J. Smith, The American Short Story Cycle (Edinburgh UP, 2017)
The American Short Story Cycle spans two centuries to tell the history of a genre that includes both major and marginal authors, from Washington Irving through William Faulkner to Jhumpa Lahiri. The short story cycle rose and proliferated because its form compellingly renders the uncertainties that emerge from the twin pillars of modern America culture: individualism and pluralism. Short story cycles reflect how individuals adapt to change, whether it is the railroad coming to the small town in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio (1919) or social media revolutionizing language in Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010). Combining new formalism in literary criticism with scholarship in American Studies, this book gives a name and theory to the genre that has fostered the aesthetics of fragmentation, as well as recurrence, that characterise fiction today.
Short Fiction in Theory & Practice 6.2
Short Fiction in Theory & Practice 6.2 includes articles on plot, on auto ethnography and writing short fiction by practitioners David Jauss, Alex Plasatis and Michael Stewart. There are also critical articles on Maeve Brennan, Angela Carter and Alice Munro, an interview with Kirsty Gunn, book reviews and more.
Caribbean Women’s Short Fiction: Special Journal issue
Short Fiction in Theory and Practice 6.1 is a special issue on Caribbean Women’s Short Fiction, guest-edited by Suzanne Scafe and Aisha Spencer, including new fiction, interviews, reviews and articles from international writers and scholars.
Edge Hill Prize winner 2016
Congratulations to Jessie Greengrass, winner of the 10th anniversary Edge Hill Prize for her collection, An Account of The Decline of the Great Auk According to One Who Saw It. She will be reading alongside Kirsty Gunn and Kevin Barry at the launch of the Edge Hill Prize anthology, Head Land edited by Rodge Glass at the Edinburgh Book Festival on August 27th.
Publication JSSE 63 “The 21st Century Irish Short Story”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Michelle Ryan-Sautour and Gérald Préher
Foreword
Bertrand Cardin
Introduction
PART ONE: TRACES OF ORAL TRADITION: VOICES, DIALOGUES AND CONVERSATIONS
Marie Mianowski
Skipping and Gasping, Sighing and Hoping in Colum McCann’s “Aisling”: The Making of a Poet
Catherine Conan
Narration as Conversation: Patterns of Community-making in Colm Tóibín’s The Empty Family
Eoghan Smith
“Elemental and Plain”: Story-Telling in Claire Keegan’s Walk the Blue Fields
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