If you’re stuck for something to read, The 2015 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize longlist is a great place to start looking, with ninety books selected for the presitgious prize. Worth €25,000 to the winning author of a collection of short stories published for the first time, in English anywhere in the world, between July 2014 and June 2015 (selecteds, collecteds or books containing stories published in a previous volume of stories by the author will not be eligible), the award is in it’s eleventh year and is the single biggest prize in the world for a collection of short stories.
In honouring Cork’s literary genius Frank O’Connor, and its most famous short story writer, it is hoped this award will achieve international recognition for the short story and highlight Cork’s important contribution to this literary art form.
This major international prize celebrating the city’s intimate relationship with the short story was established as part of the literary programme of Cork’s tenure as European Capital of Culture. Since then it has made possible through the generous support of Cork City Council and the School of English, University College Cork
It is hoped the Award, for a complete collection of previously unpublished stories in a book collection, will play a significant role in establishing parity of esteem for the short story collection alongside the novel.
Judges this year were Ladette Randolph American novelist and editor-in-chief of Ploughshares, Clive Sinclair British novelist and Eibhear Walshe, Irish novelist and director of Creative Writing at the School of English, University College Cork. The shortlist will be decided towards the end of May and made public in early June.
The 16th Cork International Short Story Festival kicks off on the evening of Tuesday September 15th 2015. The full programme will be released in July.
Longlist for 2015 Award
| TITLE | AUTHOR | PUBLISHER |
| Half a Creature from the Sea | Almond, David (UK) | Walker |
| The Emerald Light in the Air | Antrim, Donald (USA) | Farrar, Straus, Giroux |
| Stone Mattress | Atwood, Margaret (Canada) | Bloomsbury |
| Refund | Bender, Karen E. (USA) | Counterpoint Press |
| Pond | Bennett, Claire-Louise (UK) | Stinging Fly |
| Truth Poker | Brazaitis, Mark (USA) | Autumn House Press |
| Staying Thin for Daddy | Brennan, Deirdre (Ireland) | Arlen House |
| The Brink | Bunn, Austin (USA) | Harper Perennial |
| The Missing Woman | Burns, Carole (UK) | Parthian |
| How You Were Born | Cayley, Kate (Canada) | Pedlar Press |
| Bitter Bronx | Charyn, Jerome (USA) | Liveright (Norton) |
| If I Knew You Were Going to be This Beautiful I Never Would Have Let you Go | Chicurel, Judy (USA | GP Putnam /Penguin |
| Probably Monsters | Cluley, Ray (UK/Australia) | ChiZine Publications |
| Man V Nature | Cook, Diane (USA) | Harper Collins |
| The Redemption of Galen Pike | Davies, Carys (UK) | Salt |
| The Chameleon House | de Villiers, Melissa (South Africa) | Modjaji |
| Mr Tall | Earley, Tony (USA) | Little Brown & Company |
| Life Here Below | Farrell, Michael J. (Ireland)) | New Island |
| We Will All Go Down Together | Files, Gemma (UK) | ChiZine Publications |
| Let me be Frank with You | Ford, Richard (USA) | Bloomsbury |
| Over Our Heads | Fox, Andrew (Ireland) | Penguin/ Random House |
| Clemency Browne Dreams of Gin | Foyle, Órfhlaith (Ireland) | Arlen House |
| Jellyfish | Galloway, Janice (UK) | Freight Books |
| Now We Will Be Happy | Gautier, Amina (USA) | University of Nebraska Press |
| A Fistful of Earth | Gigoo, Siddhartha (India) | Rupa Publications |
| The Need for Better Regulation of Outer Space | Goldschmidt, Pippa (UK) | Freight Books |
| White Tiger on Snow Mountain | Gordon, David (USA) | Little A / New Harvest |
| Gutshot | Gray, Amelia (USA) | Farrar, Straus, Giroux |
| Jebel Marra | Green, Michelle (UK/Canada) | Comma Press |
| Infidelities | Gunn, Kirsty (UK) | Faber and Faber |
| Speed Dreaming | Haroutunian, Nicole (USA) | Little A |
| Elegy on Kinderklavier | Hemenway, Arna Bontemps (USA) | Sarabande |
| Little Crackers | Higgins, Beda (UK) | Sarabande |
| The Way Out | Jarrett, Vicki (UK) | Freight Books |
| Away from the Dead | Jennings, Karen (South Africa) | Holland Park Press |
| Millie and Bird: Tales of Paradise | Joy, Avril (UK) | Iron Press |
| Coup de Foudre | Kalfus, Ken (USA) | Bloomsbury |
| Burrard Inlet | Keevil, Tyler (Canada) | Parthian |
| The Family Unit and Other Struggles | Klavan, Laurence (USA) | ChiZine Publications |
| Specimen | Kovalyova, Irina (Canada) | Anansi |
| City Beasts | Kurlansky, Mark (USA) | Riverhead Books |
| Sweet Nothing | Lange, Richard (USA) | Little Brown and Company |
| The Book of Names | Leville, Royce (Australia) | Ripple Books |
| Justine, Joe and the Zen Garbageman | Licht, Matthew (USA) | Salt |
| When You Find Us We Will be Gone | Linforth, Christopher (USA) | Lamar University Press |
| Get in Trouble | Link, Kelly (USA) | Canongate |
| Doll Palace | Lippmann, Sara (USA) | Dock Stree Press |
| Life-like | Litt, Toby (UK) | Seagull Books |
| The Dog | Livings, Jack (USA) | Farrar, Straus, Giroux |
| Deadly Confederacies and other stories | Malone, Martin (Ireland) | New Island |
| Elemental | Mantel, Tara (USA) | Livingston Press: The University of West Alabama |
| Gifts for the One Who Comes After | Marshall, Helen (Canada) | ChiZine Publications |
| Teresa’s Man and other stories from Goa | Mauzo, Damodar (India) | Rupa Publications |
| Crow Fair | McGuane, Thomas (USA) | Knopf |
| Angels and Exiles | Meynard, Yves (Canada) | ChiZine Publications |
| Passion Flower | Mistry, Cyrus (India) | Aleph |
| Viral Stories | Mitchell, Emily (USA) | Norton |
| the Alphabet of Birds | Naudé, SJ (South Africa) | And Other Stories |
| Knife Fight | Nickle, David (Canada) | ChiZine Publications |
| Daydreams of Angels | O’Neill, Heather (Canada) | HarperCollins |
| The Girl Missing from the Window | O’Reilly, Pau (Ireland)l | Doire |
| Here Be Nightmares | Oui, Julya (Malaysia) | Fixi Novo |
| Me and My Daddy Listen to Bob Marley | Pancake, Ann (USA) | Counterpoint Press |
| For Love and Kisses | Pasion-Flores, Andrea (Philippines) | University of Santo Tomas Publishing House |
| Honeydew | Pearlman, Edith (USA) | Little Brown and Company / John Murray |
| Hall of Small Mammals | Pierce, Thomas (USA) | Riverhead Books |
| A Token of my Affliction | Plantana, Janette (Canada) | Tightrope |
| French Kisses | Poe, David R. (USA) | Serving House Books |
| Father Brother Keeper | Poole, Nathan (USA) | Sarabande |
| What I Want To Tell Goes Like This | Rader, Matt (Canada) | Nightwood Editions |
| Don’t Try This At Home | Readman, Angela (UK) | And Other Stories |
| Wallflowers | Robertson, Eliza (Canada) | Bloomsbury |
| I Am Currently Working on a Novel | Rolli (Canada) | Tightrope |
| Don’t Let Him Know | Roy, Sandip (India) | Bloomsbury |
| By the Book | Schoemperlen, Diane (USA) | Biblioasis |
| Leaving By Plane Swimming Back Underwater | Scott, Lawrence (Trinidad/UK) | Papillote Press |
| They Do the Same Things Different There | Shearman, Robert (UK) | ChiZine Publications |
| Chez L’Arabe | Silcoff, Mireille (Canada) | Anansi |
| Confidence | Smith, Russell (South Africa/Canada) | Biblioasis |
| Wrote For Luck | Taylor, Dj (UK) | Galley Beggar Press |
| You Turn Your Back | Tester, Royston (Canada) | Tightrope |
| Mr. Bones | Theroux, Paul (USA) | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Hot Little Hands | Ulman, Abigail (Australia) | Hamish Hamilton |
| Night at the Fiestas | Valdez Quade, Kirstin (USA) | Norton |
| 101 Detectives | Vladislavic, Ivan (Coatia/ South Africa) | And Other Stories |
| thorn | Williams, Evan Morgan (USA) | BkMk Press at University of Missouri-Kansas City |
| SecondHand Rain | Williams, Georgia Carys (UK) | Parthian |
| The Freedom in American Songs | Winter, Kathleen (UK) | Biblioasis |
| The Thing About Great White Sharks | Wright, Rebecca Adams (USA) | Little A |
| My Documents | Zambra, Alejandro (Chile) | Fitzcaraldo Editions |
