Monday, April 02, 2012

2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award Longlist

I'm in Edinburgh for 2 weeks- more on that shortly. But in the meantime, what a thrill that my soon-to-be-published second collection, My Mother Was An Upright Piano: Fictions, has been longlisted for the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award! As you will see below, it is a looong longlist, because most of the eligible collections make the longlist. Am I despairing in the face of such competition for the €25,000? Nope. I am rejoicing! A few years ago, the longlist had 40 or so books, now it has around 75... so this means either that more short story collections are being published, or that more publishers know about the prize and are submitting - or BOTH, and both those things make me very happy!

And it's an honour to be on a list that includes several friends - A J Ashworth, Nuala Ni Chonchúir, Charles Christian, Orflaith Foyle, Mary Costello, and some of my favourite writers - Joyce Carol Oates, Nathan Englander, Tessa Hadley (who taught me on the Bath Spa MA), Diane Williams, Steve Almond, Etgar Keret, Don de Lillo, Jo McGregor.... Am I predicting the shortlist? I hope not, I hope to be surprised! I will be at the Cork International Short Story Festival in September where the prize is presented anyway, teaching flash fiction workshops (see the Festival workshops brochure) and reading from the new book, so I look forward to meeting the shortlisted writers (and hoping I'm not too starstruck...)

So, here's the list - an excellent starting point if you're looking to enrich your bookshelves (real or virtual, I must add, as a new Kindle user... aaargh). Many I've not heard of, and I keep both ears to the ground when it comes to short story collections, so I'm delighted. Links are to those we've already reviewed in The Short Review - of anyone wants to offer to review any of the others, please email (editor (at) theshortreview (dot) com)! Good luck to all, shortlist announced in June.

Steve Almond, God Bless America, Lookout Books, USA
A. J. Ashworth, Somewhere Else, or Even Here, Salt Publishing, UK
Diane Awerbuck, Cabin Fever, Umuzi, South Africa
Lou Beach, 420 Characters, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, USA
Frank Bill, Crimes in Southern Indiana, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, USA
Will Boast, Power Ballads, University of Iowa Press, USA
Greg Bottoms, Swallowing the Past, Texas Review Press, USA
Laura Boudreau, Suitable Precautions, Biblioasis, Canada
Shannon Cain, The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, University of Pittsburgh Press, USA
Neil Campbell, Pictures from Hopper, Salt Publishing, UK
Eileen Casey, Snow Shoes, Arlen House, Ireland
O Thiam Chin, The Rest of Your Life and Everything That Comes With It, ZI Publications, Singapore
Charles Christian, This is the Quickest Way Down, Proxima, UK
Dave Chua, The Beating, Ethos Books, Singapore
K. L. Cook, Love Songs for the Quarantined, Willow Springs Editions, USA
Mary Costello, The China Factory, The Stinging Fly Press, Ireland
Eugene Cross, Fires of Our Choosing, Dzanc Books, USA
Don DeLillo, The Angel Esmeralda, Picador, USA
Stanley Donwood, Household Worms, Tangent Books, UK
Catherine Eisner, Listen Close to Me, Salt Publishing, UK
Nathan Englander, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, Alfred A. Knopf, USA
Matthew Firth, Shag Carpet Action, Anvil Press, Canada
Órfhlaith Foyle, Somewhere in Minnesota, Arlen House, Ireland
Matthew Francis, Singing a Man to Death, Cinnamon Press, UK
David Galef, My Date With Neanderthal Woman, Dzanc Books, USA
Dagoberto Gilb, Before the End, After the Beginning, Grove Press, USA
Namita Gokhale, The Habit of Love, Penguin Group, India
Lorna Goodison, By Love Possessed, HarperCollins Publishers, Jamaica
Daniel Griffin, Stopping for Strangers, Véhicule Press, Canada
Tessa Hadley, Married Love, Jonathan Cape, UK
Sarah Hall, The Beautiful Indifference, Faber and Faber, UK
Hanjum Hasan, Difficult Pleasures, Penguin Group, India
Tania Hershman, My Mother Was an Upright Piano, Tangent Books, UK
Keith Jardim, Near Open Water, Peepal Tree Press, USA
James Martyn Joyce, What’s not Said, Arlen House, Ireland
Suzanne Kamata, The Beautiful One Has Come, Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing, USA
Jackie Kay, Reality, Reality, Picador, UK
Etgar Keret, Suddenly, a Knock in the Door, Chatto & Windus, Israel
Fiona Kidman, The Trouble With Fire, Random House, New Zealand
Zoe Lambert, The War Tour, Comma Press, UK
Krys Lee, Drifting House, Faber and Faber, USA – South Korea
Adam Levin, Hot Pink, McSweeney’s, USA
Peter Markus, We Make Mud, Dzanc Books, USA
Rowena Mcdonald, Smoked Meat, Flambard Press, UK
Jon McGregor, This Isn’t the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You, Bloomsbury, UK
K. R. Meera, Yellow Is the Colour of Longing, Penguin Group, India
Ana Menendez, Adios, Happy Homeland!, Grove Press, USA
Clemens Meyer, All the Lights, And Other Stories, Germany
Kevin Moffett, Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events, HarperCollins Publishers, USA
Jim Mullarkey, And, Doire Press, Ireland
Sabina Murray, Tales of the New World, Grove Press, Australia
Stuart Nadler, The Book of Life, Picador, USA
Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Mother America, New Island, Ireland
Éllis Ní Dhuibne, Shelter of Neighbours, Blackstaff Press, Ireland
Joyce Carol Oates, The Corn Maiden, Grove Press, USA
Rajesh Parameswaran, I Am an Executioner, Bloomsbury, USA
Cassandra Parkin, New World Fairy Tales, Salt Publishing, UK
Lucia Perillo, Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain, W. W. Norton & Company, USA
Dave Pescod, All Embracing, Route, UK
Alice Petersen, All the Voices Cry, Biblioasis, Canada
Stephanie Powell Watts, We Are Taking Only What We Need, BkMk Press, USA
Wayne Price, Furnace, Freight Books, UK
Stephanie Reents, The Kissing List, Hogarth, USA
Rebecca Rosenblum, The Big Dream, Biblioasis, Canada
Pamela Ryder, A Tendency to Be Gone, Dzanc Books, USA
Nathalie Serber, Shout Her Lovely Name, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, USA
Johanna Skibsrud, This Will Be Difficult to Explain, W. W. Norton Company/ Hamish Hamilton, Canada
Yasuko Thanh, Floating Like the Dead, McClelland & Stewart, Canada
Lysley Tenorio, Monstress, HarperCollins Publisher, USA-Philippines
Laura Maylene Walter, Living Arrangements, BkMk Press, USA
Diane Williams, Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty, McSweeney’s, USA
D. W. Wilson, Once You Break a Knuckle, Bloomsbury/ Hamish Hamilton, Canada
Lucy Wood, Diving Belles, Bloomsbury, UK
Barbara Unković, Moon Walking, Old Line Publishing, Croatia
Dina Zaman, King of the Sea, Silverfish Books, Malaysia

10 comments:

Elizabeth Baines said...

Many congratulations, Tania!!!

Brian Clegg said...

I had to make a comment to stop it saying '1 delightful comments'... But was anyway. That's great news, Tania - congratulations!

Unpublished Life said...

Congratulations on the nomination! Best of luck!

I will definitely need to look into these collections ... starting with yours!

http://unpublishedworksofme.blogspot.co.uk/

Tania Hershman said...

Elizabeth, thank you!

Brian, I know, can't fix that...!

Thanks, UL, happy reading!

katrina said...

Congratulations, Tania!!

Lauri said...

Crossing fingers for you Tania!

Tania Hershman said...

Thanks Katrina!

Lauri, don't worry about the finger crossing, I'm just happy to have a new book out!

Deb Rickard said...

Huge congratulations, Tania! I love 'My Mother Was an Upright Piano' and look forward to reading the rest. Good Luck! x Debs

Group 8 said...

Great stuuf. Looking forward to Sep and spending time with you :)
N x

Tania Hershman said...

Deb, thank you!! Launch details coming soon...

N - me too!