Tuesday 13 December 2011

A trio of awesome anthologies

I'm very happy to be blogging about not one but three new anthologies of short stories coming in the near future, and especially pleased to be appearing in each one.

The first is Voices, edited by Sarah Dobbs, "A collection of memoir, poetry, prose and life-writing from new and established authors. All work is set in Blackburn or written by those with a strong connection to the town." My flash, After a Long Illness, Quietly at Home, is one of my personal favourites and I'm delighted it was chosen to be part of Voices. You can listen to me reading the flash (and channelling my paternal grandmother's voice) here.

The Monster Book for Girls is being published by Exaggerated Press and carries two of my very short stories, Spirit Level and Don't Give Me That Face. The cover artwork is very cool and the whole concept was inspired by the pre-war annuals which contained wholesome stories for girls. This new anthology does not, but promises to be great fun.

In April 2012, Pangea will be published, being a collection of the best stories from the website, WriteWords. Two of my longer short stories are in this anthology, The Wedding Fair and LoveFM. I'm looking forward to the promotion and launch of Pangea, in Bristol, with readings at Foyle's and elsewhere.

It's great to be in the company of writers I love and admire, such as Andrea Ashworth, Caroline Choille, Joel Willans and Vanessa Gebbie. Here's to a trio of happy publication dates!



16 comments:

Tania Hershman said...

Ooh, they all sound wonderful! Especially the one which will be launched here, looking forward to coming to that. The Monster Book for Girls sounds like a great idea, and Voices sounds intriguing. What a great trio!

Group 8 said...

Congrats, Sarah - they look like some really cool publications.

Sarah Hilary said...

Thanks, Tania and Nuala!

Rin said...

Fantastic, congratulations! Will be adding those to my ever growing 2012 'to read' list. At this rate I'm going to have to give up work altogether, in order to dedicate myself to reading. Mmmm, what a lovely thought...

Sarah Hilary said...

Thanks, Rin! Reading for a living (with some writing thrown in, of course) sounds ideal.

Caroline - (Choille) said...

Sarah - I'm so pleased to be in such good company.

Hope you're well.

All the best
Caroline.

caroline(choille) said...

Good to be in such great company.

All the best

Hope you're well & congratulations.

CarolineX

Sarah Hilary said...

Thanks, Caroline! Is it very snowy where you are?

Dr L said...

LoveFM! Oh, that takes me back. As for your continued successes, woot! Now, where can I leave a not-so-subtle hint to hubs that I would like The Monster Book for Girls as a present ....

Sarah Hilary said...

Thanks, Dr L! Your intererst in the Monster Book is duly noted.

chillcat said...

Glad I've found this, your posts are inspiring and I am always thrilled to read about short story success. Good luck in 2012 and I hope it is a productive year for you.
Ciao Catherine

Sarah Hilary said...

Thank you, Catherine. I hope 2012 is good for you, too

Anonymous said...

Fantastic, well done -- what a great way to see in 2012.

Sarah Hilary said...

Many thanks, Martha. Have received my copy of Voices, which is beautiful.

Anonymous said...

WOW. I loved your reading in Voices, It really spoke to me and my experiences. If it isn't too personal could I ask what event you based that piece on?

Thanks in advance for your time.

Sarah Hilary said...

Thank you, Anonymous. I didn't base it on any event, as such. It was written for a writing challenge where I had to make each new sentence start with the letters that spell out F-L-A-S-H. I had no particular idea or story in my head when I sat down to start writing; the discipline of the challenge led me in the direction of the story. Sorry, that's not a very helpful answer, is it! Anyway, I'm very glad it spoke to you in the way it did.