BBC SHORT STORY SHORTLIST

The shortlist for the BBC Short Story Award has been announced. Winner to be announced next week, I think. This seems to have passed me by somewhat, stuck as I am in a novel-writing and avoiding the net groove. Not that the novel's going anywhere. Yet.
Anyway, the rather excellent David Constantine is on it & they are broadcasting them all this week:

1. Tea at the Midland by David Constantine
2. Haywards Heath by Aminatta Forna
3. Butcher's Perfume by Sarah Hall
4. If it Keeps on Raining by Jon McGregor
5. My Daughter the Racist by Helen Oyeyemi

Jim Naughtie, Chair of Judges, said of this year's award:

"The short story can expose a writer, cruelly. It takes skill to be able to complete the job, and like a miniaturist on canvas who has to work to distil a world into a few square inches the writer who can suggest a great span in a story that has to be kept in check is a true servant of the craft. A short story needs to waste no time. It can't meander, unless the wandering is perfectly controlled and has a hidden purpose. As judges we found in our discussion that although our tastes and stylistic passions are probably quite different, we knew a good one when we saw one ..."

More here.

FRANK O'CONNOR SHORTLIST 2010

Five American writers and the wonderful English writer David Constantine have made the shortlist for the 2010 Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Huge congrats to all; three are début authors. The shortlisted books and authors are:

1. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This (Picador UK, 2010) by Robin Black

2. Mattaponi Queen (Graywolf Press, 2010) by Belle Boggs

3.Wild Child (Bloomsbury, 2010) by TC Boyle

4.The Shieling (Comma Press, 2009) by David Constantine

5.Burning Bright (HarperCollins, 2010) by Ron Rash

6. What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us (Dzanc Books, 2009) by Laura van den Berg

More at Munster Lit here and The Guardian  here.