I just got back from the Small Wonder festival where I launched The Stone Thrower. I also stuffed my face all weekend. Here are a few of my highlights: ***WARNING: CONTAINS SHAMELESS NAME-DROPPING*** Eating date flapjack while discussing swearing with Roshi Fernando, DW Wilson and Elanor Dymott – a discussion that Roshi ended by setting a … [Read more...]
The first Story Salon at The Society Club in bullet points
Here's my report on the first Story Salon at The Society Club in Soho - the new monthly lit-night from Cathy Galvin, creator of the Sunday Times EFG Award. Meet Alison MacLeod at Oxford Circus. She has a new purple coat. Arrive at the Society Club and meet Carrie Kania, one of the owners. GREAT selection of books here. Carrie says each one … [Read more...]
Autumn launch events
I’ll be out and about in September and October to launch my new short story collection, The Stone Thrower… Sun 30 Sept – Small Wonder. 6pm. Tickets £9 (£8 Students). Charleston Farm House, Nr Lewes, East Sussex BN8 6LL.Oh I love the Small Wonder short story festival: the only literature festival with its own branded beer, where mooing cows … [Read more...]
Events this March
It feels like I've been holed up in my attic all winter finishing up my new story collection, so I'm looking forward to getting out to do a couple of events this month. The Book Stops Here on Monday 12 March No one does writer introductions like Emma Young (citing bad Amazon reviews and giving general abuse). She’s the best, so I’m looking … [Read more...]
Kikinda Short Story Festival, Serbia
I just spent the most amazing week of literary hedonism in Serbia, at the Kikinda Short Story Festival. Along with 23 writers from 18 countries, I ate testicles, showered in sulphurous water, did a live interview on Serbian radio at 8am after 3 hours' sleep while hungover, then got to feel like royalty on a horse-and-carriage tour of … [Read more...]
Thank you Arts Foundation!
For years I've been getting up at 6am every day to write for an hour or so before heading out to work. I've always longed to have proper time to write, and now, finally, I have it. It's all thanks to the Arts Foundation. At the end of January, they awarded me the Arts Foundation Fellowship in short story writing. At the awards … [Read more...]