Author: Willesden Herald

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Story of the Month, May 2019

The Willesden Herald New Short Stories Story of the Month

May 2019: Rash by Megan Taylor

“The ancient hinged mirror reflected back three Frans, each one streaked. Beyond her, the walls of her bedroom were a faded peach, her teenage posters removed long ago, but in the lamp’s glow, the walls appeared duskier than usual and Fran also looked muted, almost satiny, despite the rash.”

Megan Taylor

Megan Taylor is the author of three novels, ‘How We Were Lost’ (Flame Books, 2007), ‘The Dawning’ (Weathervane Press, 2010) and ‘The Lives of Ghosts’ (Weathervane Press, 2012), as well as a collection, ‘The Woman Under the Ground and Other Stories’ (Weathervane Press, 2014), which includes her Willesden Herald’s shortlisted ‘Rash’.

Recent short stories have been placed in several competitions, and appeared in a variety of publications, including Dark Lane’s 6th and 7th anthologies and Neon.  A fourth novel, ‘We Wait’, is due out from Eyrie Press in 2019. (Website: www.megantaylor.info)

“Rash” is also available in Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 8 together with stories by nine other outstanding writers.

Queens Park Book Festival, June 29th: “The Art of the Short Story”

‘When I started I thought I wasn’t a person with a good memory but you tap into uncanny places where you have things saved up that you didn’t know you did until you got to that level.’ Tessa Hadley in The Times (2017) via “How Tessa Hadley Writes“

“Alligator and Other Stories” by Dima Alzayat for Picador (2020)

“Picador has acquired a collection of short stories from “really exciting talent” Dima Alzayat. Editor Ansa Khan Khattak bought UK and Commonwealth rights for Alligator and Other Stories from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann. It is scheduled for publication in 2020.” (The Bookseller)

The Paris Review: Sample delights from the Redux newsletter

“Every week, the editors of The Paris Review lift the paywall on a selection of interviews, stories, poems, and more from the magazine’s archive. You can have these unlocked pieces delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday by signing up for the Redux newsletter.”

This week’s features include an interview with Elena Ferrante, a poem by Jorge Luis Borges and a story by Haruki Murakami.

For Books’ Sake: Animalia Paradoxa by Henrietta Rose-Innes

Direct link: Animalia Paradoxa by Henrietta Rose-Innes
Link to buy the book from the publisher: Boiler House Press

Merryn Glover on the Cairngorms (BBC Countryfile magazine)

All about and how to order Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 7

March 2019: The Man in Black Pyjamas is in The Incubator

Since we didn’t have a Story of the Month for March. Here, belatedly, is one in the superb monthly short story series from The Incubator. The story is by a writer who is widely-published but, like Banksy,  anonymous, known only as The Man in Black Pyjamas.