The intimate short story salon

Join us in the shadow of Nelson's Column for our inspiring October salon. After David Constantine has led his masterclass on the art of writing the short story, he will be reading alongside Tessa Hadley and Adam Marek. These three award-winning authors will join Cathy Galvin in conversation about their writing lives.

David Constantine

David Constantine is a short story master with four acclaimed collections: Back at the Spike, Under the Dam, The Shieling, and Tea at the Midland, winner of the Frank O’Connor International short story award. He has taught German language and literature for over thirty years, published several volumes of poetry, is an award-winning translator, and was until recently the co-editor of the literary journal Modern Poetry in Translation. He is also author of one novel, Davies, and Fields of Fire: A Life of Sir William Hamilton.

Tessa Hadley

Tessa Hadley has written five novels including The London Train and Clever Girl, and two collections of short stories: Sunstroke and Married Love. She publishes stories regularly in the New Yorker, reviews for the London Review of Books and the Guardian, and is a Professor at Bath Spa University. She was shortlisted in the 2014 BBC short story award.

Adam Marek

Adam Marek is the award-winning writer of two short story collections – Instruction Manual for Swallowing and The Stone Thrower. He won the 2011 Arts Foundation Short Story Fellowship, and was shortlisted for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. His stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies. Adam is a mentor for the 2014-2015 Word Factory apprentice scheme.

Cathy Galvin

Word Factory director Cathy Galvin is a journalist and poet. Associate editor of Newsweek, she co-founded the Sunday Times EFG short story award and has judged many short story prizes including the Frank O'Connor international short story award. She edited Red, The Waterstones Anthology. Her poetry pamphlet, Black and Blue, was published by Melos Press this year.

Masterclass with David Constantine

VS Pritchett said that a short story is ‘something glimpsed from the corner of the eye’ but what does that mean – what really defines a short story and how can we write better in a form that demands precision and strong narrative?

We are delighted to explore these questions in an exclusive masterclass with Frank O’Connor International short story award winner David Constantine. The author of four collections of short stories and a renowned poet and translator, David will discuss the art of short story writing with reference to his own writing life and inspiration he has drawn from the works of DH Lawrence and others.

This masterclass is for you if you are already writing short stories as well as for those practiced in other forms of writing but keen to explore the short story form. The class will involve discussion and careful examination of a few texts which will be provided in advance with the aim of encouraging reflection and insight. If possible, we would advise writers to read Morphologies. Short story writers on short story writers from Comma Press in advance. David will not be setting exercises but will be encouraging you to discuss concerns and ideas in your own work with him and other writers in the class.

Venue: Waterstones Trafalgar Square. Cost: £60 per person with free entrance to the evening reading included. NOTE THE TIME: 1.30-4.30pm (before the Salon). Booking is limited to 20 spaces only.

Short Story Club

This month: Colin Barrett
The Clancy Kid

At October's Short Story Club, we'll be discussing ‘The Clancy Kid’ by Colin Barrett. This is the opening story from Barrett's new collection Young Skins. Hungover Jimmy is in the pub in his Irish home town, in which all the stories are set, listening to his unstable friend Tug talking about a small boy who has gone missing - the Clancy kid. The story evokes the place and the characters Jimmy encounters in confident strokes, blending warmth with the sinister, the modern with the mythic, and hooking the reader whilst leaving us wondering.

Simply email Sophie Haydock for more details and a copy of the story: sophie@thewordfactory.tv