The Long and Short of It:
Short Stories - Rattawut Lapcharoensap
with Alistair Daniel
Monday 11 March, Zoom, 7.30pm
Tickets: £Free/Pay What You Can
This MK Lit Fest series, sponsored by the Open University, asks authors how they know which ideas or stories best suit which fictional form - flash fiction, short story, novella or novel.
The short story is one of the most notoriously demanding – but also rewarding – of literary forms. The challenge of creating a living, breathing world peopled with compelling characters and situations, setting it in motion, and bringing it to some kind of resolution, all within a few short pages, is one that even experienced short story writers find daunting.
This event takes an in-depth look at the unique challenges of writing short stories. Alistair Daniel (Open University PhD graduand in Creative Writing) talks to the award-winning short story writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap about the pleasures and challenges of the form, focusing on the stories in his prize-winning collection, Sightseeing.
About Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Rattawut Lapcharoensap is the author of Sightseeing, a collection of short stories, which received the Asian American Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His work has appeared in Granta, One Story, the Guardian, Zoetrope, Best New American Voices, and Best American Non-Required Reading, among others. He is a recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award, a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin fellowship, a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honour, and an Abraham Woursell Prize through the University of Vienna; he was included by Granta magazine in its list of Best of Young American Novelists. He holds a BA from Cornell University and an MFA from the University of Michigan, and teaches fiction at Sarah Lawrence College in New York State.
About Alistair Daniel
Alistair Daniel is an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Open University. His short stories have been published in journals including The Missouri Review, Narrative, Litro, The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times and Stand, and he has held the Charles Pick Fellowship at the University of East Anglia. He has an MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and a PhD in Creative Writing from the Open University.
More about Alistair:
About English and Creative Writing at the Open University
English and Creative Writing at the Open University enables students to anticipate life the better by reading critically, writing effectively and thinking creatively. Each programme is designed to support aspiration, taking students forwards in life. Studying with the OU will open professional avenues, further career prospects, deepen insights and knowledge – enjoyably. The Department's programmes strive to be rigorous while honing the pleasures of reading and writing.
The Contemporary Cultures of Writing research group is interested in all forms of creative and academic writing, and its outlook is interdisciplinary. Membership comprises novelists, poets, dramatists and life writers, as well as academics and practitioners in Literature, Linguistics, English Language, and Translation Studies. The focus is on writing practices, their cultural contexts and impacts, and activities include seminars, conferences, collaborative work, and publications.
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