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CfP Irish literature and periodical culture – Leuven 1-3 December 2022

Periodicals have played an important role in the production, mediation, dissemination and reception of Irish literature. By exploring the intersections between Irish writers and the (transnational) periodical press, this conference aims to further scrutinise the ways in which periodical culture in Ireland has impacted writers’ careers, codified the development of literary genres and conventions, and influenced the course of Irish literary history and the canon more generally.

See the conference website for all information. Deadline abstracts: 6th of May 2022

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Journée d’études / Study Day on Short Crime Fiction – 14 October 2022, Université Catholique de Lille

Call for Papers

Modern detective fiction is usually considered to have started with Edgar Allan Poe’s three Dupin short stories and it is certain that the Sherlock Holmes short stories in The Strand magazine brought the new genre to the attention of the world. Other notable writers who helped shape the genre in the early 20th century, including G. K. Chesterton and Melville Davisson Post, stuck to the short form and managed both to innovate and to produce works which are still appreciated today. For Ellery Queen, writing in 1942, it was still possible to state that “the original, the ‘legitimate’ form” of detective fiction “was the short story”[1] and to perceive the detective novel as an inflated short story. According to Catherine Ross Nickerson, “[t]he mechanisms of a detective narrative are more apparent in a short story, since there is less upholstery for hiding the ropes and pulleys. The shorter form also forces writers to make a more clear decision about whether to focus on the puzzle or on the character.”[2]

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Edge Hill Prize shortlist 2021

The annual Edge Hill Prize awards £10,000 to the author of what the judges consider to be the best published short-story collection from the UK or Ireland. This year’s shortlist includes previous winner Kevin Barry, plus four debut authors. It also includes two short story cycles.  Full list below:

  • Paradise Block by Alice Ash (Serpent’s Tail/Profile);
  • That Old Country Music by Kevin Barry (Canongate).
  • Lifestyle Choice 10mg by Rosemary Jenkinson (Doire Press);
  • The Earth, Thy Great Exchequer, Ready Lies by Jo Lloyd (Swift Press);
  • Made by Sea and Wood, in Darkness by Alexandros Plasatis (Spuyten Duyvil);
  • She-Clown by Hannah Vincent (Myriad Editions). 

Small and independent publishers have made a strong showing. There’s a huge amount of variety amongst these collections, ranging from tales of migrant fishermen (Plasatis) to postmodern historical fiction (Lloyd) and a magic realist version of life on a council estate (Ash).  The winner will be announced early in 2022 – hopefully at a live event in the UK.

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JSSE Issue n.72 – Elizabeth Spencer

We are pleased to announce the publication of number 72 of the Journal of the Short Story in English/Cahiers de la nouvelle, devoted to Elizabeth Spencer. This issue is dedicated to our colleagues specialized in American literature, Michel Bandry, Danièle Pitavy-Souques and Claude Maisonnat (who authored one of the articles), but also to Spencer herself, who passed away in December 2019. Two previously unpublished short stories and two interviews are collected in this issue. Three writers have also agreed to share their memories of Spencer.

You will find below the table of contents, as well as links to the websites of the Presses Universitaires de Rennes and OpenEdition, where the beginning of the articles can be accessed.

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