We’re showcasing another couple of new books for sale at the festival: The Neverlands’ a novella-in-flash by award winning novelist and flash fiction writer, Damhnait Monaghan is on a new re-print after a time out of print. As well as at the festival, it’s available from Amazon and from the publisher V.Press.
Salt City Runaway is a new collection of flash fiction by award winning Australian writer and writing teacher, Gillian 0’Shaugnessy. Both authors will be reading a story from these books in the ‘Writers from Afar’ reading session on Friday evening at the Festival. And for those in Bristol on Thursday night, 16th July, Gillian is also reading at East Bristol Books from her collection with local flash fiction writer Kathryn Aldridge Morris. You can also buy Salt City Runaway from Amazon kindle and from the publisher Night Parrot Press.
We’re very pleased that Gillian is running a workshop at the festival.
Read more about the books here:
The Neverlands by Damnhait Monaghan
Just reprinted, winner of the 2000 Saboteur Novella Awards. The Neverlands by by Damhnait Monaghan
What reviewers say:
The Neverlands, a virtuoso mosaic of microfictions by Damhnait Monaghan, tells the story of Nuala, a child caught in the crossfire of her parents’ troubled marriage. This is a family epic in flash form, masterfully and movingly distilled, both devastating and hopeful. A gorgeous debut.” Kathy Fish
“The Neverlands is a heart-tugger of a collection. In pitch-perfect colloquial prose, Damhnait Monaghan waltzes us through the sorrows of a poverty-stricken Irish family, who struggle to love each other well. Funny, clever, warm and sad, this is a beautiful book.” Nuala O’Connor
The interconnected stories in The Neverlands are very raw and very real.
And there’s a link here to a review on SmokeLong Quarterly
https://www.smokelong.com/review-of-damhnait-monaghans-the-neverlands/
Salt City Runaway by Gillian O’Shaugnessy
What reviewers say:
‘A chorus of tiny stabs whose sly work is done before the wounds even register. The cumulative impact is startling.’
—Tim Winton, author of Cloudstreet, The Riders and Juice
‘Gillian O’Shaughnessy’s Salt City Runaway is a stunning and intimate work of art, and it’s one of the best collections I’ve read that shows the differences so clearly between micro and flash. The dance between these two forms in this collection is awe-inspiring. This is how it’s done.’
—Christopher Allen, publisher of SmokeLong Quarterly
‘Salt City Runaway, by Gillian O’Shaughnessy, is a masterful debut collection by one of the foremost flash and short prose writers working today. Here, we are given fifty captivating and powerful stories that are original and deep, possessing authentic emotional weight and candor. Set largely in Western Australia, these stories capture the lives of women and young girls, survivors and strivers all, navigating love and loss and loneliness in all its complexities. A writer of considerable range, O’Shaughnessy lends her own brand of delightful surrealism and humor to many of these pieces. Each and every one of these stories lands on an unforgettable image. These are stories that make their mark indelibly on the heart and the mind long after reading. Read this collection, but read it slowly. Immerse yourself in the worlds and the lives Gillian O’Shaughnessy renders so vividly for us. This a master writer at the height of her powers. What a gift she has given us.’
—Kathy Fish, author of Wild Life: Collected Works
