A First for Fiction

This is just to let you know that my short story, ‘The Visit’, recently shortlisted in the UK for the Wasafiri Prize for New Writing, was announced winner at a ceremony last week in Somerset House, London. I won joint first prize with another shortlisted writer, Jayne Ryan, and was presented with cheque by Fiction judge, Romesh Gunesekera (nominated in 1995 for the Booker Prize for his novel, Reef). Wasafiri is Britain’s premier magazine for international contemporary writing. Published quarterly, it has established a distinctive reputation for promoting work by new and established voices across the globe. The 2010 Summer issue of the magazine was dedicated to Ireland: Texts and Contexts and featured articles by Declan Kiberd and Alain Chouinard. ‘The Visit’ is set against the backdrop of Bill Clinton’s visit to Dundalk in 2000 and will appear in the March issue of Wasafiri.

More info: http://www.wasafiri.org/pages/news_01/news_item.asp?News_01ID=205

The ceremony was also part 'literary salon' and some very interesting issues were raised concerning 'new writing', contemporary literature, the business of writing etc. When the whole issue of self-publicising arose, one member of the audience told a very funny story. She had recently interviewed Jonathan Franzen for the BBC and had asked him about his gracing of the cover of Time Magazine (August 23rd). What did it mean, she wondered. Was this Time Magazine as taste-maker, letting the public know who it currently deems the crown-prince of Literature (or of the Great American Novel, a phrase Franzen understandably hates)? Franzen replied simply that, no,  Time put him on the cover because he asked them to. Well, there you have it. A scoop from Cloud Nine. Sometimes in life you just have to say very, very clearly what it is you actually want.

Thank you Wasafiri.