CORK SHORT STORY FEST WORKSHOPS etc.

From Munster Literature Centre, re. the Cork Short Story Festival in September; in a new twist, there will be lots of four-day workshops! Bookings open tomorrow, Monday 16th April:

Plans for the Cork International Short Story Festival are at an advanced stage with writers from Ireland, the UK, The USA, Canada and the Philippines to be featured.   Among the luminaries will be American writer Lydia Davis whose Collected Stories was published in 2010. Witi Ihimaera will read at two events, one for adults and one for young people. Ihimaera is often regarded as one of the most prominent Māori writers alive. Best known in this part of the world for his novel The Whale Rider (adapted for an Oscar-nominated film) Ihimaera has also written many other novels and sixteen short story collections mostly about Māori life. Éilís Ní Dhuibhne who is publishing her new collection this year heads up the Irish contingent.

There will be a special focus on Flash Fiction with readings by Flash Fiction specialists, a workshop on writing Flash Fiction presented by Tania Hershman and a public discussion entitled Is Flash Fiction a true Literary Art Form or just something for chancers?

Another key event will feature readings from the Penguin anthology My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me - forty new fairy tales. Author and editor Kate Bernheimer will be among the readers and afterwards will participate in a public discussion on issues around the importance of fairy tales, their relevance to an adult audience in the 21^st Century etc.

Bernheimer will also be presenting a four day workshop on writing the modern fairy tale. The festival will present many four-day workshops this year. Éilís Ní Dhuibhne will present the Advanced Short Story workshop, Nuala Ní Chonchúir will present a workshop on Short Stories for beginners, John Spillane will present a workshop on Story into Song for all you budding songsmiths and there will also be workshops on bringing Short Stories to the stage and as said, Flash Fiction.

There will be a strong showing of young writers from Canada, The UK, The USA and the Philippines. 

The festival will run from Wednesday September 19^th to Sunday September 23^rd and the main venues will be the Triskel Arts Centre and Cork City Central Library. A prospectus for all workshops will be released in April. The programme will be fully finalised when the winner of the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is announced in July.  Regular updates on Festival news will appear before then on www.corkshortstory.net