The European Network for Short Fiction Research was established in 2013 with the aim of fostering and promoting the study of short fiction in European universities and in interaction with short fiction writers. After an inaugural meeting early in 2014, the ENSFR has organized annual conferences as well as sponsored several other study days and events. This website aims to be an interactive platform for sharing research, expertise, ideas and information about short fiction in its diversity of linguistic traditions and forms.
Eighteen short stories from the pages of Dublin’s iconic literary magazine The Bell (1940 – 1954) with responses by eighteen of our foremost contemporary writers.
Available at: https://stingingfly.org/product/the-writers-torch/
Cover Design: Catherine Gaffney
The University of Angers is organizing a closing conference for the Short Forms Beyond Borders (SFBB) pedagogical innovation project (European Erasmus + “Strategic Partnerships”) July 10-12, 2023. These three days will be structured as a “Multiplier Event,” i.e. a conference which aims to share the results of the project and initiate a reflection about its impact through the organization of conferences, workshops, and round tables. The SFBB project draws connections between research and innovative pedagogy through a focus on “short forms.” The diverse objects of study and tools in short formats can be the following: news, micro-news, tweets, pitches, Facebook or Instagram posts, short videos, short fiction, fanfiction, short films, news flashes, street art, cartoons, songs, etc.
The conference will be addressed to not only short form specialists but also primary and secondary school teachers interested in pedagogy and didactics. It also aims to reach a wider audience who might be curious to know more about these short forms which have always been associated with education, but are particularly present in contemporary modes of information and communication, often in ways of which we are not aware.
This interdisciplinary and international meeting will allow the partners of the project to present the results of their activities in innovative pedagogy with short formats to not only the pedagogical and scientific community, but also to researchers from various disciplines in the humanities, languages and social sciences. We would like to continue to reflect upon these short forms that we often struggle to define and therefore welcome presentations or activities (innovative forms are welcome) about the following topics
– Short forms and pedagogical practices
– Short literary, audiovisual and cultural forms
– Short forms and tourism
– Short forms and social mediation
– Short forms and migration
– Etc.
Languages of the conference: English and French
In person attendance is required (no online presentations will be allowed), but a hybrid format will be considered for foreign audiences to attend the discussions and conferences.
A peer-reviewed publication is planned for conference presentations.
Please send a brief (300 word) description of your proposed presentation, along with a brief (150 word) bio-bibliography to the following addresses by 28 February 2023 [deadline extension]:
Cécile Meynard: cecile.meynard@gmail.com
Michelle Ryan: michelle.ryan-sautour@univ-angers.fr
Emmanuel Vernadakis: emmanuel.vernadakis@univ-angers.fr
Vol. 12.2 , the second of two special issues on ‘the health of the short story’ guest-edited by Lucy Dawes Durneen is now available. Lucy’s editorial
‘Breaking ourselves open: Recovery and survival in the short form’ reflects on the process of editing and arranging articles that speak to and across the individual issues, and the way in which this itself mirrors the short story’s trifold ability to diagnose, observe and potentially suture together resolutions for the challenges of the human condition, both within the boundaries of the text, and as a discrete tool for personal recovery.
Other articles discuss pandemic literature; medical short stories in the 1890s; the early 20th century US writer Fanny Hurst; monstrous motherhood in Renaissance short fiction; and running writing workshops for health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are creative contributions from Moy McCrory, Virginia Hartley and the Chilean author Carolina Brown, who is also in conversation with Lucy Dawes Durneen. Plus book reviews on the modern short story and magazine culture and the German short story by Aleix Tura Vecino and Livi Michael.
Registration is now open for the 2022 ENSFR conference, Short Fiction as World Literature hosted by the University of Lisbon, School of Arts and Humanities Centre for Comparative Studies October 27-29th.
Keynote Speakers are:
Helena C. Buescu (University of Lisbon)
Stefano Evangelista (University of Oxford)
Olivia Michael (Manchester Metropolitan University)
The prestigious Edge Hill Prize is now in its 16th year and is the only national literary award to recognise excellence in a published, single-authored short story collection.
This year’s shortlist includes two previously shortlisted writers and two debut collections, with the winner set to scoop a £10,000 prize.
The five shortlisted books are:
A £1,000 Readers’ Choice Award will also be presented to one of the shortlisted authors, as well as a £500 prize for the best short story submitted by an Edge Hill University MA Creative Writing student.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced in November.
The judges of the 2022 prize are 2021 winner Kevin Barry, literary development agent Arzu Tahsin; and Sarah Schofield, Edge Hill University lecturer, whose collection Safely Gathered In is published by Comma Press.