2012 Festival News
02.04.12
We are pleased to announce the longlist for the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. Click here to view the authors & collections which will be read by judges Mary Leland (author & journalist), James Harpur (prize-winning poet) & Ann Luttrell (Triskel Arts Centre Literature Manager).
28.03.12
But we can reveal some of the
excellent writers we’ve confirmed already and let you know about some festival
themes. The festival will have a truly international line-up with writers from
Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and
the Philippines.
This year as well as having our usual strong strand of traditional, mainstream
short story writers we will be featuring writers well known for their flash
fiction such as Lydia Davis, Tania Hershman, Nick Parker and others. There
will be a public discussion entitled “Is Flash Fiction a True Literary Art Form
or Just Something for Chancers?”
As well as readings there will be a number of
public interviews with authors. Kate Bernheimer will lead a discussion around
the subject of contemporary fairytales and their relevance to adult readers and
writers.
From New Zealand we have two of that country’s leading fictionists including
Fiona Kidman and Witi Ihimaera. Ihimaera has been described as the most
distinguished living Maori writer. Ihimaera’s novel Whalerider was adapted
for an Oscar-nominated movie and he is in demand at literary festivals the
world over. Kidman has published eight novels and four short story collections
and has received both an OBE and an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her
services to literature.
From Canada we have the grotesquely funny Zuzsi Gartner who has several short story collections under her belt, as well as short story debutantes Johanna Skibsrud, who is already known as a novelist and poet, and D.W.Wilson who was shortlisted for the Seán Ó Faoláin Prize a couple of years back before winning the BBC National Short Story Award.
From San Francisco we have debutante writers, Irish-raised Will Boast whose
book is populated by a milieu of rock musicians and Philippines-born Lysley
Tenorio whose book relates wild tales of his birth place including stories about
B-movie makers and a bunch of young men who assaulted the Beatles after
their alleged snubbing of Imelda Marcos.
Ireland is represented by senior writer Eilís Ní Dhuibhne and Young Turks
Kevin Barry & Nuala Ní Chonchúir, all of whom are publishing new
collections this year. We will also be celebrating the launch of a first short
story collection by West Cork’s Joyce Russell – a former winner of the Seán Ó
Faoláin Prize.
05.03.12
Mark your calendars! Dates announced for the 2012 Cork International Short Story Festival: 19 - 23 September. Venues TBA.
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01.02.12
Submissions for the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award will be accepted through 15 March 2012. Submission guidelines available at the award website. The 2011 winner was Edna O'Brien's Saints and Sinners.
