Woke this morning to a lovely email telling me my entry for this year’s International Feature Writing Competition longlist over on Thresholds. Being longlisted alongside folks like Carys Bray, Tom Volwer and Nuala Ní Chonchúir, who as well as being friends are authors of some of my favourite short fiction collections of recent years, is really exciting. Indeed, the whole list is an intriguing mix of titles and I can’t wait to read them all.

The official announcement from the Thresholds website:

2013 THRESHOLDS International Feature Writing Competition Longlist

We would like to extend our hearty thanks to all those who entered this year’s competition. We also congratulate the following writers whose work has been selected for the 2013 THRESHOLDS Feature Writing Competition longlist. Look out for the shortlist results on The Forum next week, as well as a special post about this year’s competition.

LONGLIST

  • Julia Anderson: ‘The Orphan and the Mob’ by Julian Gough
  • Anna Arbiter: No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
  • Carys Bray: We Recommend Adam Marek
  • Jason Clifton: Storm Warnings in a Purple Haze: Robert Stone’s Bear and his Daughter
  • Stephen Devereux: The Fall of the British Empire – Saki’s ‘The Lumber Room’
  • Stephen Devereux: Whistle– If You Dare! An exploration of M. R. James’s ‘Oh Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad’
  • Hugh Fulham-McQuillan: Julio Cortázar
  • Tracy Maylath: How to Read Lorrie Moore
  • Nuala Ní Chonchúir: A Trio of Irish Short Stories
  • Dan Powell: Stig Dagerman’s The Games of Night
  • Mike Smith: ‘The Little Farm’ by H.E.Bates
  • Tom Vowler: Touch by Graham Mort
  • Juliet West: ‘Miriam’ by Truman Capote