Writing.ie - Guest Blogs

Another in an occasional series on teaching creativity by poet, teacher and editor Dave Lordan

I talk to author A.J. Ashworth about her short story collection Somewhere Else, or Even Here which won the Scott Prize.

Barry Houlihan looks at some upcoming competitions and events for short story writers

People are divided as to whether short stories are dead or alive but at least we're talking about them

In this post we hear from Declan Meade, editor of the literary magazine The Stinging Fly

The Cork International Short Festival certainly closed on a finale as Edna O’Brien scooped the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award, worth 35,000 euro - a well deserved and impressive result from a prolific and much admired writer. Edna’s acceptance speech was just perfect:

It’s nearly that time of year again, when a short story writers gets rewarded for their dedication and brilliance with a sum of 35,000 euro: The Frank O’Connor Short Story Award. Running since 2005, this remains the biggest award for any short story writer - and this year, I’m the official festival blogger so I’ll be in the thick of it all, watching events unfold.

As we grow within our writing experience we pass through different stages. You gain maturity, you just 'know' things you didn't understand before. This presents a feasible analogy with life and its stages towards adulthood. Here I want to explore my progression as a short story writer. The examples given at each of the stages are personal ones, but I would be interested to see what fellow short story writers experiences have been.