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.

davidmeans
David Means

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 3

Contents

  • “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).

Contributors (2009)

Continue reading “Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 3”