Short Stories RSS

We caught up with Özgür Uyanık, whose debut short story collection Men Alone was published last month, to ask him some questions...     Hi Öz, and thanks for making the time to talk to us. What inspired you to write Men Alone? Following my father’s death in 2019, I began to think more deeply about his life. One aspect that fascinated me was the hard barrier between his external self and his secretive internal one and so I wanted to explore this way of being. Therefore, each story is about men—at different stages of life—trying to master their existence...

Welcome to our fifth #authorinsight, where we present to you a behind-the-scenes interview with 2021 Rhys Davies Short Story Award shortlisted author, Giancarlo Gemin, who wrote the short story 'Cure Time'.  Born in Cardiff, Giancarlo has previously written two children’s books, Cowgirl and Sweet Pizza, both of which were winners of the Tir Na n-Og Award (2015 and 2016). He is currently working on his first adult novel based on a library in Wales during the austerity years. His short non-fiction, “The Valleys of Venice” (the story of his mother’s journey from Italy to Wales) will be part of Parthian’s travel anthology,...

On the third day of our author insights, I had the honour of discussing Philippa Holloway’s entry for the 2021 Rhys Davies Short Story Award, ‘A Cloud of Starlings’, with the author herself. Philippa is a writer and an academic whose short fiction and non-fiction writing has previously been published worldwide in several literary journals and magazines. Philippa has won prizes in various awards and been shortlisted for many other competitions. With a passion for exploring the relationship between people and place, she is currently working with Parthian Books on her 2022 debut novel The Half-Life of Snails. In Philippa’s...