The 15th International Conference on the Short Story in English will take place from June 27-30, 2018 at the University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal with the theme: “Beyond History: The Radiance of the Short Story.”

I’ll be reading on Wednesday 27 June at 3.30pm alongside Maria Teresa Horta and Angelo Lacuesta.

Some writer friends going to… Hisham Bustani, Robert Olen Butler, Rebekah Clarkson, Evelyn Conlon, Lucy Durneen, Nancy Freund, Sandra Jensen, Alison Lock, Alan McMonagle, Mary Morrissy, Billy O’Callaghan, Nuala O’Connor, Judith Nika Pfeifer, Anna Solding, Billie Travalini, Jose Varghese and William Wall.

“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.”

You can check out my online short story course with Writers Victoria here.

Hope to see some of you there.

Huge thanks to Culture Ireland for supporting this trip.