New Short Stories

The story so far

We are thrilled and honoured to announce that David Means has kindly agreed to be the judge for the eighth annual Willesden Herald international short story competition.

David Means’ stories have a diamond-like sharpness and clarity, in which we visit locations, society and climates as vividly as in a waking dream. I couldn’t point to Sault Ste Marie on the map but I feel I’ve been there. I’ve never hung onto a train but I sort of know what it’s like now. I’ve never lived in an apartment in New York or slept rough but…you get the picture? Writers, you have your work cut out for you.

Links

Wikipedia: David Means
The Spot by David Means review by James Lasdun in the Guardian
Interview with David Means in the New York Times
Short stories by David Means in The New Yorker
NY podcast: David Means reads Chef’s House by Raymond Carver
David Means’ author page at Faber and Faber

So intercept a story when it stops at traffic lights, shine its windscreen with a piece of tissue paper the size of a coin, run home, type it out and send it to us as soon as electronically possible. Or whatever your process is. Closing date: Friday, 21 December 2012.

Continue reading “The story so far”

Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 6

“Half” by Nick Holdstock
“Curtains” by Charles Lambert
“In the Service of the Demon” by Jo Barker Scott
“Frost Heave” by Geraldine Mills
“Winter Lambing” by Virginia Gilbert
“Slimebank Taxonomy” by Eliza Robertson
“The Coastal Shelf” by Dermot Duffy
“Relativity” by Mary O’Shea
“Clingfilm” by Francis Scappaticci
“Artist” by Y.J. Zhu

The best of the Willesden Herald international new short stories competition 2012, bringing you stories are set as far afield as Canada, China, Iran as well as Britain and Ireland.

Available from:

isbn: 978-0977852666

Contributors (2012)

Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 5

“Apartment” by Y.J. Zhu
“Blue Raincoat” by Teresa Stenson
“Dancing with the Flag Man” by Nemone Thornes
“Gusul” by Adnan Mahmutovic
“Homecoming” by Alex Barr
“Out of Season” by Mary O’Shea
“Overnight Miracles” by A.J. Ashworth
“Set Dance” by Angela Sherlock
“The Bedroom” by Micheal Coleman
“The Place” by David Frankel
“Thingummy Wotsit” by Adrian Sells
“Victor” by Emma Martin

‘Every human type and taste is here – sad, funny, fresh, sharp, gripping, sour and sweet – delicious small mysteries that suddenly reveal their secret hearts.’ (Maggie Gee)

The best of the Willesden Herald international short story prize 2011. Twelve new stories set as far afield as China and New Zealand, Sweden and the US as well as several from Britain and Ireland.

Available from

isbn: 978-0974726151

Contributors (2011)

Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 4

Wena Poon – The Architects
Toby Litt – Veronika and Roger-Roger
Julia Goubert – In the Land of Flies
Willie Davis – Emily Strabnow’s Freckles
Nuala Ní Chonchúir – Letters
Kevin Spaide – Monkey Hat
Carys Davies – Precious
Jonathan Attrill – Love and Longing in the Marvellous City
Peggy Riley – Pearl
Tom Vowler – Busy. Come. Wait.
Paul McGuire – Hope Street
Jo Cannon – Shutters
Jarred McGinnis – Learning Stick
Henrietta Rose-Innes – Falling

Fourteen of the best short stories of the year 2010 from brilliant new and award-winning authors, seven by men and seven by women. The stories are set in Australia, Ireland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, UK, US and more.

Available from

isbn: 978-0977852659

Contributors (2010)

Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 3

“Work” by Jo Lloyd
“The Travellers” by Carys Davies
“Tokyo Chocolate” by Morowa Yejidé
“Amy” by Nick Holdstock
“Ebb Tide” by Margot Taylor
“Ante-Purgatory” by Carol Farrelly
“The Imperfect Roundness of Things” by Claudia Boers
“Propitiation” by Jenny Barden
“Mina and Fina and Lotte Wattimena” by Jill Widner
“The Hate Club” by Ben Cheetham

“A while back, when I was going through a bit of a tough time, this guy I knew, Paul, bought himself a restaurant, and when it was still pretty new and he’d spent all his money on forks and skewers and real people who knew how to run a restaurant, he asked if I would help out, and I said yes because I didn’t have a job and I didn’t seem to be capable of getting a job and I didn’t have a clue how to get myself out of the hole I’d fallen into.” (The opening sentence of Work by Jo Lloyd).

Available from

isbn: 978-0977852635

Contributors (2009)

Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 1

“Kid in a Well” by Willie Davis
“Mrs Nakamoto Takes a Vacation” by Steve Finbow
“Jolt” by James Lawless
“Vaselino” by Lee Joans
“Paradise” by Nicholas Hogg
“The Dead Don’t Do That Kind of Thing” by Wes Lee
“Words from a Glass Bubble” by Vanessa Gebbie
“Felipe and the Sea” by Jonathan Attrill
“Alternative Medicine” by Laura Solomon
“Born Again” by Shakti Bhatt
“Avoiding the Issue” by Laura Heggie
“Charles Magezi-Akiiki” by Olesya Mishechkina
“Atlantic Drift” by Arthur Allan

A feast of new stories from Britain, India, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand and the USA. This is an underground classic: read it on the tube/ subway/ metro and look cool while missing your stop.