Willesden Herald, New Short Stories 6

I’m delighted to be able to say that a story of mine, Curtains, was chosen as one of the two runners-up in this year’s Willesden Herald Short Story Competition, organised by Steve Moran and judged by Roddy Doyle. Extracts from some of the stories were read out by actors from Liars’ League – Susan Moisan did a fantastic job with mine but I think all the writers present were just as pleased as I was – and the standard was not only exceptionally high (if that doesn’t sound too immodest) but also, to Steve Moran’s credit, extremely varied. Short stories can often fall into orthodoxies, particularly when competitions are involved (I chatted about this with Y.J. Zhu, another shortlisted author), so it’s a joy to find a reader who listens out with such attention for the voice of the story as it actually is, rather than as it should be. And it’s a sign of the respect writers feel for this competition that so many of the shortlisted authors should have travelled so far to be there on the night. That, and the giant pretzels…

You can buy the book from Book Depository, by the way. Just thought I’d mention it.