In 2013 my mom's former London flatmate came to visit her in Ballito. She brought my sister and I each a book. I can't remember what I got, but somehow my sister's copy of Alice Munro's Dear Life ended up in my possession. Munro is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize for… Continue reading Short Story 5: Alice Munro – Train
Category: Short Story Reading Project
Short Story 4: Ken Liu – The Paper Menagerie
In September last year, I saw Ken Liu talk at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town. He was serious, dressed in an overcoat (I might be projecting this), and his responses to the host were always long and detailed, but fascinating. It was clear that this was a writer who thought a lot about… Continue reading Short Story 4: Ken Liu – The Paper Menagerie
Short Story 3: Lauren Beukes, Confirm/Ignore
This week the internet is excited about a short story on the New Yorker called Cat Person. I read it, loved it, and will probably write about it soon. In a strange coincidence, this morning I picked up Lauren Beukes' latest collection Slipping and flicked through looking for a short story to read. I landed on… Continue reading Short Story 3: Lauren Beukes, Confirm/Ignore
Short story 2: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Cell One
Lucky I started ahead of time because it's already more than two weeks since my birthday, and I haven't gotten around to reading any more short stories. I did, however, read Marlene Van Niekerk's Agaat which absolutely blew my mind, and was over 600 pages long. So, I don't feel too bad. Second story - one… Continue reading Short story 2: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Cell One
Short Story 1: Kazuo Ishiguro, Crooner
It seemed like a good idea to start my short story reading project with the most recent winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Kazuo Ishiguro. If I'm going to learn anything from reading short stories, a Nobel Prize is probably a good place to start. It also seemed like a good idea to start my… Continue reading Short Story 1: Kazuo Ishiguro, Crooner
Jen Thorpe 