Category Archives: Short Stories

COMFORT ZONE

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Screenshot of first page of "Comfort Zone", my short story publication at Pangyrus literary magazine, showing an image of a plastic bag and the first paragraph of the story

Comfort Zone is possibly the oddest story I’ve ever written and had published. I wrote it last year in a fit of desperation due to various things not happening in my writing career. I would say it’s my most ‘fictional’ story ever, other than the setting. However when I teach writing I always say that nothing is ever really fiction – I can only suspect that some of the ideas for this story are inspired by the kind of dreams I used to have (decades ago…) when doing stressful jobs like waitressing – in which I’d be running around serving people only to realise I’d shown up to work naked…

Thank you so much Pangyrus for publication!

Photo credit (the plastic bag): Teslariu Mihai on unsplash.com, licensed under CC 2.0.

ECLIPSE

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My cnf flash ECLIPSE has been awarded Runner Up in the WOW! Women on Writing Creative Nonfiction Essay contest. Second time I’ve placed in their competitions in six months! The other was for a previously published piece, What Men Want. Have a look at that post to read about this lovely organisation. I will also have another interview up soon. 

I’m in the midst of my first COVID infection which has been awful, so this is a bright light for me at the moment, so grateful. 

Many thanks to everyone at WOW! Women on Writing. What fantastic work you do for women writers!

Image by A Owen from Pixabay

WHAT MEN WANT (again)

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I’m super happy that my cnf flash What Men Want is Runner Up in the WOW! Women on Writing Creative Nonfiction Essay contest. I didn’t discover this amazing group until recently. They not only run competitions, but courses and articles, and they also list a number of writing resources on their website. Unusually they accept work that has already been published, which means this piece of mine gets a new lease of life, but more importantly the lovely emails I’ve had back and forth with the organisers were a highlight of the recent months for me – much needed as I’ve been in quite a funk. The emails were supportive, encouraging, personal. Most competitions don’t engage to this level. AND, I have an interview! WOW! asked me questions about the piece, about my writing process, and about the book I was commissioned to write from Story Machine (slated for publication later this year). You can read the interview here. 

Many thanks to all at WOW! Women on Writing. What great work you do for women writers!

MOTHER

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I’m very proud to announce that “MOTHER“, a creative nonfiction flash story about, yes, my mother–and grief–is now published in Emerge Literary Journal.  Many thanks to everyone involved in creating such a wonderful journal, and for all the hard work involved. It’s an honour to be part of the Emerge family.

Photo of my mother, Berrell Jensen

NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE & KARAOKE GIRL

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Yesterday was a first for me, I had TWO pieces published in one day. One is a personal essay about my mother’s death, titled Now That You Are Here published by the wonderful Cutleaf Journal (the most money I ever received for a literary magazine publication!), and the second is Karaoke Girl which I entered into a little competition where you record yourself reading a flash piece, and apparently I’m shortlisted. I only entered last week. I’m not entirely sure how it works, if you like it and leave a comment (only if you DO like it), possibly it helps get the piece further in the competition! Or just click if you want to hear what I sound like…

I should say that these are not brand new stories. In fact the essay took NINE years to get published, turned down by far lesser (and non paying magazines), so it’s worth never giving up.

Photo by Tony Wan on Unsplash

15th International Conference on the Short Story in English

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Thanks to a Canada Council for the Arts Grant I am a participant at the 15th International Conference on the Short Story in English, taking place from June 27-30, 2018 at the University of Lisbon in Portugal. The theme is: “Beyond History: The Radiance of the Short Story.”

In an age when private lives appear to be ruled by the force of historical events, we are contradictorily challenged by creative achievements that, even if originating in History, develop a self-sustainable energy, a radiance, so to say, that supersedes material circumstances and/or envisages alternatives for them.

The 15th International Conference on the Short Story in English brings writers of many nationalities to Lisbon, a city where the cultures of the world meet and stories of history unravel around every corner. In this scenario, fiction writers in English, or authors who have been translated into English, together with scholars of the short story, will join in reading sessions, roundtable discussions and panels, as well as in the more traditional paper presentation sessions.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the Society for the Study of the Short Story, the Conference looks forward to the opportunity of highlighting the variety of ways in which the Short Story becomes a specific form, blurs the boundaries with other literary forms, goes beyond the written medium and borrows from other artistic processes/languages, shaping itself anew in an endless process. Indeed, proving to be an extremely resilient medium, the Short Story has been changing throughout the times and aesthetic tendencies, without losing the kernel that makes it a distinctive mode of the human expressive genius.

On Thursday, June 28th, I’ll be on a panel discussing Flash Fiction in Method and Meaning with Nuala O’Connor and Tracey Slaughter, and on Friday, June 29th I’m reading one of my short stories as well as participating in the round-table discussion on Politics and Short Fiction, with Garry Craig Powell, Rebekah Clarkson, David James, and Robin McLean:

“An age-old question for many writers and artists has been to what extent should politics intrude on art: should we write above politics or face it head on? Can fiction affect or even transform the political climate? Should it even try? Then again, is it even possible to avoid a political stance of some kind?”

You can download the program of events from the website – there are a number of exciting authors reading their work, and a packed program of panels. See you there!

Gone Fishing in Wasafiri

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How I love the smell of a newly minted literary magazine! I am so proud to have my short story ‘Gone Fishing’ published in Wasafiri‘s 30th birthday magazine, issue 79. This issue is actually not available to the public yet, but why not join me for the launch at the special birthday event on the River Thames when Wasafiri hosts ‘Words on the Water’ a literary boat trip on Sunday 21 September. Tickets for the event include a copy of the magazine…

My short story is included in the issue’s section on New Writers. The section is introduced with the following:

“Wasafiri has a longstanding reputation for discovering ‘the best of tomorrow’s writers today’, but if we were to try and include all the authors we know to be on the cusp of great things, we wouldn’t have enough room in a whole year’s worth of issues! Instead, we have focused on just three for this thirtieth birthday issue, all of whom cross generations in their fictional pieces, a theme which  captures the essence of this issue, which looks both back and forwards. Balvinder Singh Banga touchingly presents a loving mother – son relationship which is tested by the cruellest of conditions – poverty and ignorance. Meghna Pant’s ‘The Gecko on the Wall’ skilfully depicts a man who, as a father, cannot communicate with his daughter, but who forms a bond with the next generation – his granddaughter. And ‘Gone Fishing’ by Sandra Jensen is a sensitive snapshot of a man whose troubling present is contained within the tragedy of his family’s past. Together these stories are a powerful reminder of how the present is shaped by the past, which also shapes the future. And, most importantly, they are told by three writers whose literary futures look very bright indeed.”

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Photographs from the 13th International Conference on the Short Story in English

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P1010296I loved the 13th International Conference on the Short Story in English that was held 2 years ago in Little Rock, but I have to say this year’s conference was very special. I suspect the reason for this is that the organisers decided to invite twice as many authors as they did in Little Rock. There was a downside: many more panels and readings, and so also many conflicts.  It was impossible to go to all the events I wanted to go to, but I had a spectacular time. I thank everyone involved in this inspiring conference, particularly Sylvia Petter,  Dr Susan Lohafer and of course Dr. Maurice A. Lee.

I was particularly delighted to re-connect with writers I’d met in Little Rock, and to meet so many new writers and academics in the field of writing, men and women I feel are now part of my extended family. There are too many to name, but here are a few….  Adnan Mahmutovic, Lauren B. Davis, Vanessa Gebbie,Robert Olen Butler and Kelly Lee Butler,  Nuala Ni Chonchuir, Tania Hershman, Rebekah Clarkson, Valerie Sirr, Thomas E. Kennedy, Bharati Mukherjee, Velma Pollard, Nancy Fruend, Paul McVeigh, Rhoda Greaves, , Dr Suzanne Scafe, Anna Solding and so, so many others.

The 14th International Conference on the Short Story in English will be held in Shanghai, China, 13 – 16 July 2016. See you there!

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13th International Conference on the Short Story in English

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I can’t believe that it’s less than a month before the 13th International Conference on the Short Story in English in Vienna, Austria. Very exciting!

The theme is “Unbraiding the Short Story”.

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This conference will bring writers of fiction in English (Irish, British, American, Canadian, Australian, Caribbean, South-African, Indian, Sri Lankan, Indonesian, etc.) and writers who have had (or will have for this event) their work translated into English together with scholars of the short story, and all will join in reading sessions, roundtable discussions and panels, including ones devoted to translation.

The 13th International Conference on the Short Story in English will also host a number of sessions, both in the more traditional format (with presentation of papers) and in other formats involving performance, dance, art, films, etc., having in mind that the form of the short story is not necessarily confined to the limits of the written page but may open up to manifold fields of expression.

You can download the program of events from the website.

On Wednesday July 16,  I’ll be reading one of my short stories, and on Thursday July 17th I’m on an extended length panel with Robert Olen Butler, Farhat Iftekharrudin and Billie Travalini. The subject of the panel is Liminality in the Threshold Story, moderated by Alice Clark from the University of Nantes.

There are a number of talks and workshops, and the guest author line-up includes Clark Blaise, Bharati Mukherjee, Tania Hershman, Vanessa Gebbie, Nuala Ní Chonchúir amongst many others, so I hope to see you there!

Descant Publication

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Descant Magazine has just published its issue 167 “Masala” on the South Asian diaspora. My piece “Even in Ruin” is in it, an edited, reworked section of my novel-in-progress, a literary adventure based in Sri Lanka during the civil war. I’m very excited about this publication, and I’ve just started reading the other stories in the magazine, some truly wonderful pieces in here. As guest editor Pradeep Solanki says, “Masala is a heady concoction of spices..” so too this wonderful edition of Descant.


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