Is the short story making a comeback?
The success of George Saunders’ Tenth of December recently re-introduced this chewed-over question into the conversation of writers and readers. With Steven Millhauser’s We Others: New & Selected Stories winning The Story Prize in 2011 and the 16,079 short story anthologies available from Amazon, it does seem that the short story is taking on a new popularity in our twentieth-century literary market. Whether you believe the hype is imaginary or representative of a true resurgence, Linen Press’ first competition joyously celebrated the short story this spring.
We are delighted to announce the two winners of our Linen Press Shorts:
Rachel Connor with The Properties of Water
Kit Habianic with Lidocaine
Click on the authors above to read each winning entry alongside a short biography of and a mini-interview with each of the authors.
Linen Press Spring Shorts is the first in a series of ongoing competitions we will host. Our goal is to create a platform through which we can share the engaging fiction that comes through our virtual doors while celebrating and exploring the possibilities of composition and form – all under the umbrella of the Linen Press’ motto “Fine writing for women”.
The short story’s succinct and constrained form is notoriouly difficult. We were impressed with the level of submissions received but most of all we are grateful to every author who entered for sharing her work with us. We encourage all of you to keep writing.
Please check back regularly for announcements of future competitions. Here’s a big hint about what’s coming next: how about you get that novel out of the drawer and look again at the first chapter…
Happy writings,
The Linen Press Team
Photo credit: Thanks to Cara Forbes Stenning for her permission to use the image.