The Word Factory #31

The intimate short story salon

Join us for an unforgettable evening of readings with Polly Samson and Louise Doughty. Share in the joy of new work from our apprentice Uschi Gatward and her mentor Nicholas Royle. And in an exclusive Word Factory masterclass, discover everything you need to know about writing for radio and winning competitions with BBC Books Editor Di Speirs. The conversation will continue with Director Cathy Galvin, co-founder of the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award.

Please note the new times for the masterclasses, short story club and salon.

Polly Samson

Polly Samson is the author of two highly acclaimed story collections and a novel. Her most recent linked story collection, Perfect Lives, was a Sunday Times Fiction Choice of the Year and was read on BBC Radio 4. She has been shortlisted for the VS Pritchett Memorial Prize and The Edge Hill Short Story Prize.

Read more about Polly.

Louise Doughty

Louise Doughty has won awards for radio drama and short stories, along with publishing one work of non- fiction. This year she has been long listed for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. She is the author of seven novels including Apple Tree Yard, with rights have sold in 21 territories worldwide.

Read more about Louise.

Nicholas Royle

Word Factory mentor Nicholas Royle is the author of seven novels, and a short story collection, Mortality. He has edited numerous anthologies, including The Best British Short Stories since 2011.He also runs Nightjar Press, publishing original short story chapbooks.  

Read more about Nicholas.

Uschi Gatward

Word Factory apprentice Uschi Gatward has been shortlisted for the Asham Award and the Bristol Short Story Prize, and has received an Arts Council England award for her short fiction. Her stories have recently appeared in several journals and anthologies.

Read more about Uschi.

BROADCAST NEWS: WINNING STORIES AND WRITING FOR RADIO

For over a decade Di Speirs has championed the short story form in Britain. At the BBC, she has commissioned and produced short stories for Radio 4 and 3 as well as overseeing the internationally acclaimed BBC National Short Story Award. Read more about Di.

In an exclusive Word Factory Masterclass, Di will guide you through everything you need to know to help your work get noticed and commissioned. What are the key do's and don't for submitting work for the award or general broadcast? How does an editor think? And what new trends do writers need to keep in mind? Our session will allow enough time for Di to talk about her work and take questions.

Venue: Waterstones Piccadilly. Cost: £35 per person (please purchase Salon tickets separately). NOTE THE TIME: 3-4.30pm (before the Salon).

Short Story Club - 4.30-5.30pm

Shirley Jackson: The Lottery

When The Lottery was first published in The New Yorker in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent hate mail; it has since become one of the most iconic American stories of all time.

Shirley Jackson was born in San Francisco in 1916, and went on to earn a reputation as "one of the 20th century's most luminous and strange American writers". She is a master of Gothic suspense (her novel, The Haunting of Hill House, once called "the greatest haunted house story ever written", was turned into the classic horror film The Haunting). Joyce Carol Oates described her as "one of those highly idiosyncratic, inimitable writers... whose work exerts an enduring spell". Jackson published six novels before her death, at the age of 48, in 1965.

The Lottery is Jackson's best-known short story: Jackson draws us in to the dark, unsettling world of a small farming village, who come together for a terrible game of chance...

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