Red Room Where the Writers Are

The longlist for the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award  was announced earlier this week. The 35,000 Euro prize is currently the world’s richest for the short story form. Last year the prize went to Miranda July for No One Belongs Here More Than You. 

I am happy to say that this year an unprecedented 14 British books made the list, including my own 29 Ways to Drown!  I wish all my fellow writers lots of luck and I’m hopeful this says a lot about the future of the short story in the UK.  The entire longlist can be found on the Frank O’Connor site.