Adam Marek and David Vann were short listed for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. Both their
stories revolve around rites of passage and a son’s desire both to
impress and disown his father. David Vann shot to fame last year with his powerful short story collection, Legend of a Suicide, a
fictionalised memoir reimagining his father’s suicide in the salmon
fishing wilds of Alaska, where he spent his early years. He now lives
in San Francisco. Adam Marek’s distinctive stories have appeared in
magazines and anthologies and he has published one short fiction
collection, Instruction Manual for Swallowing.
Since Gutenberg, we have printed and read stories from the page.
Are we on the cusp of the big digital changeover, with an app for
everything? Are books becoming obsolete? Alexei Sayle,
comedian, novelist and short story writer, has just published a
memoir, Stalin Ate My Homework, in a conventional fashion.
Mathematician Marcus Du Sautoy (no slouch on Borges’ stories) is
Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. His new book,
The Num8er My5teries, includes a gaming app. Dan Franklin is
Digital Editor, Canongate Books. Chaired by Cathy Galvin, Director
of The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.
A.S. Byatt, internationally renowned Booker-prize winning novelist
(Possession) and short fiction writer, reflects on what makes a good
short story. Do they require more artifice than novels? Should they
be brief and plain, or decorative and twisty? A.S. Byatt judged the
inaugural Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. She
also edited The Oxford Book of English Short Stories. Her own short story collections include Little Black Book of Stories and The
Djiin in the Nightingale’s Eye. Her most recent novel, The Children’s
Book, is full of discrete stories. She was appointed DBE in 1999.
Chaired by Alex Linklater, Associate Editor, Prospect magazine.
Supported by the Folio Society
Janet Frame, New Zealand’s most famous writer, was a versatile
novelist, poet, essayist and short story writer. Her autobiography, An Angel at My Table, inspired Jane Campion’s acclaimed bigscreen
version. Kerry Fox was born in New Zealand and came to
prominence playing Janet Frame in the film. She has since
appeared in many films, including Shallow Grave and Intimacy,
based on a story by Hanif Kureishi. She recently appeared in
Speaking in Tongues in the West End. Michèle Roberts is a
novelist, poet and short story writer and provided the introduction
for Janet Frame’s selected short stories.
Craig Taylor brings his troupe of extraordinary actors, with their
chameleon-like gifts for transformation, to perform some brilliantly
funny and occasionally poignant snapshots of life in Britain today.
Recorded for BBC Radio 4, made into operas and performed all
over the country, including Port Eliot Festival, these potent,
tragicomic mini dramas have garnered a cult following. Tonight’s
performance premieres new plays, written for Small Wonder. ‘The
fact that they are short merely emphasise the skill with which they
have been put together. They’re a wonderful keyhole through which
you can peer at contemporary Britain’ Richard Eyre.