If you fancy being in with a chance of winning a copy of my book, I’m planning to give away three copies on the books and reading website Goodreads. You don’t have to answer any questions – you just have to click on the ‘enter to win‘ button to be put into the draw. The giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world and ends on May 15th – good luck!

I’m delighted to welcome Vanessa Gebbie to my blog today to talk about her debut novel ‘The Coward’s Tale’, which has just been released as a paperback by Bloomsbury. ‘The Coward’s Tale’ is the story of a young boy called Laddy Merridew, who has gone to stay with his grandma in a small Welsh mining town – home to the Kindly Light Pit and the scene of a terrible disaster there a number of years earlier. Whilst there Laddy strikes up a friendship with Ianto Jenkins, a beggar who tells the stories of those townsfolk who have been affected by – and continue to be affected by – the disaster, either directly or indirectly. The book is a cleverly constructed tapestry of those stories, with Ianto Jenkins’ own story proving to be one of the most intriguing. As well as a novelist, Vanessa is also a renowned short story writer and has published two collections so far – ‘Words From a Glass Bubble’ and ‘Storm Warning’. She was also the contributing editor of a collection of essays on the short story, ‘Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story’.

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I enjoyed reading last Sunday as part of the ‘Pub Shorts’ event at the historic Black Swan pub for the last day of the York Literature Festival.

The Black Swan, Peasholme Green, York

After a few days of angst about what story to read, I opted for ‘The Rings of Saturn’ – a story about a reporter who goes to interview a couple for their golden wedding anniversary. The piece also features astronomy, a recurring theme of mine but one which I enjoy exporing and is pretty close to my heart, so I hope people in the audience enjoyed it. Others reading at the event included Steve Toase, Tony Dew, host Helen Cadbury and James Wall, whose story ‘Longer than Lunch’ will soon be published in respected literary magazine Tears in the Fence. (Please take out a subscription for yourself or a friend – the magazine is currently struggling financially and is in desperate need of support.) It was really nice to be asked along to take part in the festival and to hear a great selection of new stories from my fellow readers – writers who are definitely worth keeping an eye on for the future.

* I’ve just been interviewed by writer Adnan Mahmutovic, who was shortlisted with me in last year’s Willesden Herald short story competition. If you want to see me trying to answer some fairly tough questions then click here.

Well, it has certainly been an interesting week or so. First, I was interviewed by Alison Wells for her blog on the writing.ie website and we discussed the elements of a good short story and what I like about them. Second, my collection was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize alongside books by the likes of Tessa Hadley, Edna O’Brien, Sarah Hall and my fellow Scott Prize winner Cassandra Parkin, whose ‘New World Fairy Tales‘ is a sexy and sassy reworking of some of the more famous Grimm fairytales. Then, to my huge surprise, I discovered my book had been reviewed in this week’s TLS by Ivan Juritz, who said some very nice things indeed – so thank you, Ivan Juritz whoever and wherever you are. Thank you for reading my book in the way I’d like it to be read. A good week indeed. And one to remember when the writing’s not going so well in the future. Weeks like this make it all worthwhile.

Update: I also neglected to mention that I’m reading in the ‘Pub Shorts’ event at York Literature Festival this Sunday (April 1st) – click the link at the side for more information.

Update number two: The book has also just now sneaked onto the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award longlist. Congrats to everyone on there.

I’ve been interviewed by the lovely Alison Wells on her blog Random Acts of Optimism on the writing.ie website. If you fancy a read please click here.

I just saw this short video of a book being printed and bound and thought I’d share (thanks to @goodreads on Twitter). It’s a nice celebration of the level of skill and craftsmanship that goes into producing physical books – skills which are at risk of being lost if the demand for print continues to fall.

I just noticed that The Guardian are running a series of podcasts featuring short stories about motherhood to mark Mother’s Day this Sunday (March 18). The first is Tessa Hadley reading Elizabeth Bowen’s story ‘Coming Home’ – a story I’m not familiar with myself but which I’m looking forward to listening to. This got me thinking about which one I’d choose should such a situation ever arise and the story that instantly sprung to mind was ‘Snow Angel’ by American writer Stephanie Vaughn. I first read this a couple of years ago after buying Vaughn’s collection ‘Able Baker Charlie Dog’ (the book has just been reissued under its alternative title of ‘Sweet Talk’ and is well worth getting hold of).

In the story we get a glimpse into the life of a young mother, Marguerite, who is at home with two noisy children while her husband becomes stranded after his car breaks down. As far as plot goes, nothing much happens. We just learn that Marguerite is hiding in the closet to get some peace and quiet, then that she takes a couple of phone calls from her husband and later that she plays games with her children. But, as with all the best short stories, these little events tell us so much about Marguerite’s life – her loneliness, her parental frustrations and also how invisible she feels as a human being. “If I had somebody to tell these things to, I think I could make them into good stories”, she says to herself, after her husband fails to ask how her day has gone. A sentiment which could well resonate with mothers everywhere.

The shortlist for the 2012 Salt Publishing Scott Prize has recently been announced – so, being one of last year’s winners, I just wanted to say a quick congrats and good luck to the 11 who have made the cut. You can see who they are here. I recognise a few names on there so it’s going to be really interesting to find out who the winner is, when the decision is made around April. If you want to find out more about each shortlistee, Salt are running a series of interviews on their blog – click here and look at the blog post list on the right-hand side for #ScottPrize – The Shortlist in Profile. There’s a few on there already, more to come. So good luck everyone. From the story extracts I’ve seen so far, it looks like it’s going to be a tough year.

There seems to be a bit of a buzz about bookshops at the moment – those independents which are bursting with individuality and character as well as offering a great selection of reads. The first thing I noticed was The Guardian’s Independent Bookshop guide back in September. Then there was a post by Jen Campbell saying she wanted to write a series of ‘spotlights’ to help spread ‘the joy of physical bookshops’. You can read the first of her posts about Ripping Yarns here, the bookshop where Jen herself works.

Then there was this on Flavorwire showing photos of what were declared to be ‘The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World’. Of these my own particular favourites are Barter Books, Alnwick, the famous Shakespeare & Company in Paris and the Cafebreria El Pendulo, in Mexico City, Mexico, with its stacks of books, greenery and a winding staircase. I can only hope I get to see a few of them in the flesh one day, if not all of them.
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I was interviewed over on Jen Campbell’s blog this week so if you fancy a read click here. Jen’s also running a competition and the winner will receive a copy of my collection. To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is leave a comment below the interview.