Festival Highlight: Short Stories

A good short story reveals to us a tightly crafted snapshot into the experience of another life. We are thrilled to have three wonderful authors of short story collections coming to St Albans this year, all of whom have proved that limited lengths can go to great depths.

Roanna Gonsalves’ The Permanent Resident has been recognised for its boldness, mischievous humour and sharp postcolonial commentary of the immigrant experience in 21st century Australia. Similarly, Isabelle Li’s collection of interconnected snapshots in A Chinese Affair explores the effects of mass population migration through memory, trauma and courage. Fiona McFarlane’s ‘dazzling’ collection won this year’s Dylan Thomas Prize, draws out those ‘weird-edge bits of life’ that we all feel but can’t always put our finger on.

On Saturday evening, Roanna, Isabelle and Fiona will be in conversation with Meredith Jaffé at Short Stories – Snapshots of Life, before reading from their collections by the Festival Campfire later in the night. This one is sure to be an intimate and very special experience – after all, what better way to end a day full of festival activity than rugging up and coming together for a bedtime story?