Podcast of Bloomsbury Short Story Evening

Just to let you know that you can hear a podcast of the permission-themed short story event I chaired with the wonderful Jon McGregor, Lucy Wood and Eliza Robertson - hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the evening!

Short Story Evening with Jon McGregor, Eliza Robertson and Lucy Wood

I'm getting excited now about this event I am chairing next Wed - here are the details! Any questions you'd like me to ask them - about permission in writing, in particular?

Short Story Evening with Jon McGregor, Eliza Robertson and Lucy Wood

chaired by Tania Hershman

Date: Wednesday 25^th February
Time: 6pm for 6.30pm. Ends 7.45pm
Place: Bloomsbury Publishing, 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP. Click here to book

Tania Hershman delves into the imaginations of three wonderful Bloomsbury short story writers, Jon McGregor, Eliza Robertson and Lucy Wood, asking them about the weird and fabulous worlds they create in their short stories - from underwater husbands and memories entangled with catfish to how to trap hummingbirds, relinquish drams gracefully, feed raccoons without getting bitten, and fenland creations of things buried and unearthed.

Jon, Eliza and Lucy will reflect on the risks they take in their stories and on what and who gives them permission to try new things. They’ll discuss how they write these clever, surreal and minimalist short stories that ask the reader to play a part in their creation, as well as their own personal taboo topics, why they write and what it unravels for them.

 ‘Each time I find a new short story I love, it cracks open a window and lets fresh air into my own writing’ Tania Hershman

‘McGregor is the contemporary master of lives lived in what the Irish call a small way, and the belief, which is literature’s, that we are all poetic’ Linda Grant, Financial Times

Jon McGregor is the author of the critically acclaimed This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, So Many Ways to Begin and Even the Dogs. He is the winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Betty Trask Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and has been twice longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He was runner-up for the BBC National Short Story Award in both 2010 and 2011, with 'If It Keeps on Raining' and 'Wires' respectively. He was born in Bermuda in 1976. He grew up in Norfolk and now lives in Nottingham. www.jonmcgregor.com @jon_mcgregor
Eliza Robertson is the author of Wallflowers, her debut short story collection. She was born in Vancouver, Canada in 1987 and grew up on Vancouver Island. She studied creative writing and political science at the University of Victoria and then pursued her MA in prose fiction at the University of East Anglia. While there she received the Man Booker Scholarship and the Curtis Brown Prize for best writer. Robertson is now a highly celebrated short story writer; in 2013, she won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and was a finalist for the Journey and CBC Short Story prizes. She currently lives in Norwich and is working on completing her first novel. @ElizaRoberts0n

 

 

Lucy Wood is the author of a critically acclaimed collection of short stories based on Cornish folklore Diving Belles. She has been longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and was a runner-up in the BBC National Short Story Award. She has also been awarded the Holyer an Gof Award and a Somerset Maugham Award. Lucy Wood has a Master’s degree in creative writing from Exeter University. Her debut novel, Weathering, is published this January 2015. She lives in Devon.
Book tickets here >>>

Writing Short Stories... A Xmas giveaway!

It's here!

I'm delighted to unveil Writing Short Stories: A Writers & Artists Companion, co-written and co-edited by Courttia Newland and me, and with 20 VERY FINE guest writers in the centre. It's all about writing and all about short stories, from so many angles and perspectives, and with no "shoulds" and no "rules", and perhaps a little ranting (by me) about the "shoulds" and the "rules" that tried to deny me permission in the past. Permission. Something to be given. Yup.

Anyway, to celebrate, I'm going to give away a copy and all you have to do is comment here (by Jan 1st) and tell us who or what gave YOU permission, in some way, in your life. Am happy to post anywhere in the world. Dang, I'm feeling generous!

The book is published by Bloomsbury, and on Feb 25th in London, I'll be interviewing three AMAZING Bloomsbury short story writers - Jon McGregor, Lucy Wood and Eliza Roberston - about that very subject, permission and risk, in their own writings, so do come along, share your stories with us. More information here.

I'm reading at Loose Muse on Wed Jan 14th, at the Poetry Cafe in London, would be lovely to see you there, too!

Don't forget to comment to be in with a chance of winning a book...