Update, deadlines, appearances, chattings

Okay, people, the deadline, May 31st - is fast approaching. I am deeply honoured to be the judge of the flash fiction section, but I would be even more deeply honoured to be given the privilege of reading your flash fictions. So please please send 'em! 250 words maximum, no minimum (wow me in 50, I know it can be done...): first prize of £1,000, second prize £500, 3rd prize of £250, 3 supplementary prizes of £25.  Details here >>

What else is upcoming? Well, on June 21st I get to do something immensely exciting, which is to chair a session on surreal and weird short stories with three of my favourite writers at Spread the Word's inaugural London Short Story Festival: Adam Marek, Dan Powell and Rob Shearman. I will be interrogating them fiercely about the what, why and how of it all, and they will be sharing their work and their thoughts about it all with me and, by extension, you. Come! Find out more here >> 

Then, later that same day you will find me celebrating flash fiction at the National Flash Fiction Day event in Bristol. More details on that soon!

And I will be playing Word Association with Tom Vowler as part of the blog tour for his new novel, That Dark Remembered Day, on July 10th. Find out more about the tour here >>

And then I'm presenting an academic paper and then I'm off to Vienna and ... ok, enough excitement for one day. Going to go do some writing now. 

Spread the Word Writing Prize

Once again, I am getting judgemental - I am honoured to be one of the judges for the brand new Spread the Word Writing Prize, run by those excellent folk at Spread the Word, the literature development agency in London. Here are the details - only open to London residents, I'm afraid! But you do have up to 8000 words to play with, with NO MINIMUM. (I bet you guessed I might mention that...) Deadline July 15th. Surprise and delight us...

The Spread the Word Writing Prize 2013

We are delighted to announce the Spread the Word Writing Prize 2013.  Short Fiction is a form we are excited about - we feel it has growing appeal and an audience that’s ripe for development. You’ll have up to 8000 words to move, excite, enthrall and inspire us on the theme of ‘ Ritual’. We’re ready to see the best of what London writers have to offer. So get writing! Download Full Prize Rules here.

Download the Entry Form and a Cultural Diversity Monitoring Form

Closing Date for entries is midday, Monday 15 July 2013.

Judges
Bidisha is a writer, critic and BBC TV and radio broadcaster. She writes for a wide range of international publications and has judged numerous prizes. She specializes in the arts and culture, social justice issues and international affairs; and is the author of two novels. Her fifth book is out next year.

Tania Hershman is the author of two story collections: My Mother Was An Upright Piano: Fictions (Tangent Books, 2012), a collection of 56 very short fictions, and The White Road and Other Stories (Salt, 2008; commended, 2009 Orange Award for New Writers.) She is Writer the ditor of the online journal The Short Review. Her website is www.taniahershman.com

Sue Lawther is the Director of Spread the Word. She has worked in arts and education for over 20 years. As a Creative Director at Creative Partnerships Sue worked with hundreds of artists and schools to develop creative programmes and was executive producer of The Container by Clare Bayley, which won a Fringe First at the 2007 Edinburgh festival and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award.

Courttia Newland Novelist, short story writer, playwright and editor. His latest novel The Gospel According to Cane, was published by Telegram in early 2013. Short story collections include Music for the Off-Key and A Book of Blues. He has edited many anthologies, most recently co-editing Tell Tales 4: The Global Village (2009).

Short Fiction Masterclass: Art Breathes From Containment, April 7th

I am in Boston, off to the AWP conference tomorrow, but I wanted to let you know that there are still a few places left on the short story masterclass I am running for Spread the Word in London on Sunday April 7th. Don't let the word "masterclass" put you off, this is open to everyone, all levels of writing. Here's the description:

Breathing from containment…

Leonardo da Vinci said "art breathes from containment and suffocates from freedom.” Well, we can’t all claim to be a Leonardo, but many writers have found that playing with restrictions - limiting word count, writing time, physical space and more - actually liberates their writing, with boundaries forcing the brain to be increasingly creative.

Come and test out this theory at Tania’s short fiction masterclass, where we'll be experimenting with all kinds of restrictions in order to set our words free! Tania offers a guarantee that you will leave with several first drafts of new stories, as well as innovative ideas for what best stimulates your creative brain.

Sunday 7 April
11am – 4.30pm
£60 / £45 concessions

Toynbee Studios
28 Commercial Street
London E1 6AB
Nearest Tube: Aldgate East

Click here to book a place, come and write with us!

Another great-sounding workshop a few weeks later, on April 27th, is this one from the Word Factory on The Art of Story Writing, with my fabulous writer friends Alison MacLeod and Adam Marek:

Enjoy a unique day with award-winning short story writers Michèle Roberts, Adam Marek and literary agent Carrie Kania including an evening reading with Lionel Shriver. 

Join a small group of leading writers in an intimate setting for an exclusive one-day seminar aimed at finding your voice and getting published.

Improve the quality of your writing, find solutions to the editing problems that hold you back and discover how to get your work published. Michèle Roberts and Adam Marek both push the boundaries of the short story form with work that is full of sensuality, surprise and discomfort. You will write, be edited, absorb practical tips and be inspired. Agent Carrie Kania will explain what you need to know to successfully send your work out. And after, share your work or simply relax in the warm setting of The Society Club (Soho), where you can exchange contacts and meet new friends.
In the evening, the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver, will be in conversation with Cathy Galvin and share some of her short stories and an extract from her new novel Big Brother.

 Sounds great, eh? More details here.

Languages of Colour...

How gorgeous is that? It's the front cover of a new anthology published on May 31st by the excellent Frogmore Press, "A collection of writings and artwork on the subject of colour and colour theory" which includes my very short story, Colours Shift and Fade (first published in the Vestal Review). Contributors include Graham Dean, Clare Best, Liz Rideal, Julian Bell, Rachel Playforth, Aprilia Zank, Niki Fulton, Robert Hamberger, Jeremy Page, Tamar Yoseloff, Roy Osborne, Ros Barber, Catherine Smith, Mario Petrucci, Kay Syrad, and many others. It's a wonderful anthology - find out more here.

And I had a wonderful time last Sunday night reading at Stroud Stories in the company of these excellent writers: Thursa Swindall, Anthony Hentschel, A.J. Grace-Smith, Adam Horovitz, Rachel Levay, Rommy Collingwood, Pauline Roberts, Aidan Rush, Jo Bousfield, and Esme Lloyd-Baldwin. You can see pictures on the Stroud Stories blog.

Tuesday night's Spread the Word event in London, Short Story: Big Picture, for which I was on a panel with Helen Garnon-Williams (editor, fiction, at Bloomsbury), Di Speirs (head of readings, BBC Radio) and Ted Hogkinson (online editor, Granta), expertly chaired by Aasiya Lodhi, BBC Radio producer, was very interesting. We talked about whether Britain lags behind America and/or Europe in terms of enthusiasm for stories, the problem of there being not enough prizes for short story collections, who is publishing short stories - longer ones as well as shorter - and took excellent questions from the audience, including what those of us who read for competitions we wished we weren't seeing in short stories! I refused to answer any questions relating to the "rules" of short story writing, since I don't believe there are any, and Ted and I, when asked for our vision of where the short story would be in 10 years, both envisaged an iTunes-like way to deliver single short stories to readers.

It was fascinating for me to be part of this discussion - and a great honour - and did make me wonder about the future. What is the purpose of a short story collection - for its author, for the reader? This is something I am personally thinking about as I enjoy promoting MMWAUP, and think about future projects. The world is changing... but music lovers still by albums, don't they? I do. Sometimes. Hmm. Food for thought! Answers in the comments please! :)

This Week... Stroud, Spread the Word, and Online Story Workshop

So, above is a photo which warms my heart - the first sighting of MMWAUP in a bookshop, the fabulous Waterstones Bristol Galleries! They now have several signed copies, if you are in the area. And if you happen to be in either Stroud on Sunday or London on Tuesday, please do come along and say hi...

to Stroud Stories, at the Stroud Valley Artspace, 8pm Sunday night, where I am honoured to be headlining a fabulous line up, as part of the Stroud Site Festival, and will have some copies of my book there too.

And then on Tuesday I'm being allowed to talk and talk about short stories as part of Spread The Word's Short Story: Big Picture event, where I am on a panel which includes Bloomsbury editor Helen Garnon-Williams, Ted Hodginkson, the online editor of Granta, and Di Spiers, the producer for readings on BBC Radio 4, all chaired by BBC Radio producer Aasiya Lodhi. The event is 6.30-8.30pm at the Free Word Centre and I believe there are still a few tickets left. Will have some copies of my book there too!

Now, delving into ancient history, way way before I had any books, before I had published anything at all, around 15 years ago, when I began trying to write short stories, what I did was take workshops. As many as I could. Workshops with amazing teachers who showed me what a short story could be and helped me write my first, then my second... I went to workshops in the US and the UK, and they were invaluable.

Nowadays, in the Internet era, you don't have to fly anywhere - there are online workshops, and one I would like to highly recommend is a brand-new venture from two garlanded short story writers I respect, admire and trust - Tom Vowler and Zoe Lambert's The Art of The Short Story:

The 6-week online course looks at the following elements:A brief history of the short story

Narrative voice

Leaving space for the reader

Characterisation

Theme

Language

Critical analysis and revision

Structure and unity of effect

Submitting to competitions and journals

Aimed at writers of all levels, there are weekly exercises and the tutors provide detailed feedback on your work. You will also receive critiques from fellow students. The course, whilst being dynamic and challenging, takes a nurturing, encouraging approach. At the end of the course you should have a story of publishable standard, along with several more pieces of fiction to take forward. For details on the next course see the above link.

The next course starts on June 11th and costs £145 (or £125 if you bookby June 4th). Find out more here. Frankly, if I wasn't going abroad in June, I'd do it. There's always always more to learn, even for those of us who have been at it for 15 years!

All about flash fiction

I think I may have written a blogpost with this title before but anyway it's still all about flash fiction because next Wednesday, may 16th, is the first ever National Flash Fiction Day! Brainchild of Calum Kerr, he has proven himself not just to be a person of endless creative ideas but also supremely organised and efficient in executing them and inspiring others. NFFD has gathered momentum worldwide, not just in its home country here in the UK.

So, what does it mean? Well, firstly, there is a National Flash Fiction Day anthology of brand new flash fiction, Jawbreakers, which includes stories by these lovely folk - and me!

Ali Smith, Jen Campbell, Dan Powell, Vanessa Gebbie , Amy Mackelden Laura Wilkinson David Gaffney  Brindley Hallam Dennis Rupan Malakin Tania Hershman Nathan Good  Rin Simpson Sarah Hilary Sara Crowley  Jenn Ashworth Bob Jacobs  Ian Rankin Benjamin Judge Mark Sheerin  Nigel McLoughlin Natalie Bowers Alex Thornber Valerie O'Riordan Carrie Etter L.A. Craig Calum Kerr Kylie Grant  Sal Page Jonathan Pinnock Susan F. Giles Martha Williams  Sarah-Clare Conlon  Eli Goldstone David R. Morgan Alison Wells SJI Holliday Nicholas Murray Eunice Yeates Nick Garrard Jay Barnett Kirsty Logan Kevlin Henney David Gilbert  Simon Thirsk  Sue Walker-Stokes Erinna Mettler Emma J.Lannie Jessica Patient  Brian George Trevor Byrne  Sally Zigmond Angela Readman Dan Carpenter Clare O'Brien  Alun Williams Jenny Adamthwaite Tim Stevenson Jason Bagshaw

You can pre-or your copy here, or pop to the official launch of NFFD next Wed in Southampton...

There is also a flash fiction anthology from here, Flash fiction south-west, which I am thrilled to also be included in, along with Sarah Hilary, Pauline Masurel, Martha Williams, Rin Simpson, Debs Rickard, Kevlin Henney and many others ...and the anthology is actually named after my flash, Kissing Frankenstein and Other Stories....

There are events up and down the country - and I'd like to invite you to the event I'm involved in, a flash fiction slam in Oxford organised by the inimitable Dan Holloway of eight cuts at the fabulous Albion beatnik bookstore. Kick off is at 6.30pm, free entry if you bring something to read! Come and entertain us with your flash fiction, or come to be entertained! I'll be reading something from my new book (did I mention I have a new book? :) ) and participating in the general merriment.

As if Calum wasn't busy enough - he's even launching a journal for NFFD entitled Flash Flood and wherever you are in the world, he wants your submissions of flash stories of 500 words or less! Find out more here. 

On the topic of flash, if you're wondering what it is and how to write it, come to Cork in September and join me for four days of flash writing workshops during the wonderful Cork International Short Story Festival (a slice of heaven for the short story junkie), Bath in October for a flash workshop at Mr B's Emporium for Writing Events Bath, or Devon in November for an Arvon Foundation 5 day course with me and Adam Marek in short and very short stories....

And on the topic of short stories, there are still some tickets left for Short Story Big Picture, the discussion in London on May 29th organised by Spread the Word, with an excellent panel including Di Spiers of BBC Radio 4, Ted Hodginkson from Granta, Helen Garnons-Williams from Bloomsbury, and me, talking about short stories. Should be fun! Come ask us some hard questions! (I will be reading a teeny fiction from my book there too.)