The revival of the short story continues apace. Following last year's Arts Council-sponsored Save our Short Story campaign, the Munster Literature Centre in Ireland and Cork have now picked up the baton and inaugurated the Frank O'Connor International Short Story prize. Worth 50,000 euros, it is the single biggest award in the world for a collection of short stories.
First collections make up half the shortlist for the prize. These include last year's Guardian first book award nominee David Bezmozgis's Natasha and Other Stories, Bret Anthony Johnston's Corpus Christi and Yiyun Li's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. Counterbalancing the debut collections are books of interlinked stories from two very experienced writers, Tim Winton with The Turning and Alice Hoffman with Blackbird House. They are joined by the American author David Means' third collection, The Secret Goldfish.
The 60-strong longlist was whittled down by a five-member jury including chair Val McDermid (UK), Desmond Hogan (Ireland), Lames Lasdun (UK/USA), Mary Leland (Ireland) and Hansjörg Schertenleib (Switzerland). They will announce the winner in late September.
