A Short Affair
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Okri has read for Pin Drop at the Bath Literature Festival and at the Royal Academy.
Anne O’Brien was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award in 2017 for ‘These Silver Fish’.
O’Brien’s work has appeared in several anthologies and magazines and received recognition from numerous awards, including the Bath Short Story Award (winner), The London Magazine’s Short Story Competition (second prize) and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and BBC’s Opening Lines.
A. L. Kennedy is the author of seventeen books: six literary novels, one science-fiction novel, seven short-story collections and three works of non-fiction. She is also a dramatist for stage, radio, TV and film and regularly reads her work on the BBC.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was twice included in the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. She has won awards including the 2007 Costa Book Award and the Austrian State Prize for International Literature and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016 for Serious Sweet.
A longstanding supporter of Pin Drop, Kennedy has read her short stories for Pin Drop to audiences in London on several occasions and featured on RTE Radio.
Anna Stewart was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017 for ‘The Way I Breathed’.
Stewart’s stories have been widely published in journals and magazines, and shortlisted for a number of awards. With a background in theatre, Stewart has performed her work internationally and collaborated on development projects with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Craig Burnett was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award in 2017 for his story ‘Feathers Thick with Oil’.
Born in Dundee, Burnett grew up in Oxfordshire and lives in south London. His short stories have been included in various publications and he was a prize-winner at the Cambridge Short Story Award 2018. He is an editor at a global politics think tank.
Douglas W. Milliken was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award in 2017 for ‘Heart’s Last Pass’.
Milliken is the American author of the novel To Sleep as Animals and several chapbooks, most recently One Thousand Owls Behind Your Chest. His stories have been widely published and have received numerous awards, including the Maine Literary Awards and the Pushcart Prize.
Will Self is a highly acclaimed, award-winning British author, journalist and political commentator. He is the author of ten novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and five collections of non-fiction writing. His work has been translated into twenty-two languages, and his novel Umbrella was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Regularly appearing on television, Self is also a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4 and writes for publications including the Guardian, Harpers, the New York Times and the London Review of Books. He also writes columns for the New Statesman, the Observer and The Times.
Since 2012, Self has been Professor of Contemporary Thought at Brunel University. In 2015 he read for Pin Drop at the Royal Academy of Arts during Ai Weiwei’s landmark exhibition.
Jarred McGinnis was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017 for ‘Rough Beasts’.
His short fiction has been commissioned for BBC Radio 4 and appeared in respected journals in the UK, Canada, USA and Ireland. McGinnis has worked on projects selected for the British Council’s International Literature Showcase, teaches at Goldsmiths university and was the creative director for Moby-Dick Unabridged at the Southbank Centre.
Barney Walsh was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award 2016 for ‘Under the Waves’.
Walsh moved from a background in theoretical physics to literature and he is now the assistant editor of Litro Magazine. His stories have appeared in a number of respected journals in the UK.
Rebecca F. John was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award in 2017 for ‘Paper Chains’.
John’s short stories have received widespread recognition, winning the PEN International New Voices Award, shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her debut novel, The Haunting of Henry Twist, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. In 2017, she was featured on the Hay Festival’s ‘Hay 30’ list.
Joanna Campbell was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award in 2017 for ‘Brad’s Rooster Food’.
When Planets Slip Their Tracks, Campbell’s first collection of short fiction, was published in 2016 and followed her debut novel, Tying Down the Lion, published in 2015. Campbell’s short stories are widely published and have won numerous awards.
Emily Bullock was shortlisted for the Pin Drop Short Story Award in 2017 for ‘Freshwater’.
Winner of the Bristol Short Story Prize, Bullock’s short stories are widely acclaimed and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her debut novel, The Longest Fight, published in 2015, was featured in the Independent’s Paperbacks of the Year.
Cherise Saywell was the winner of the Pin Drop Short Story Award 2017 for ‘Morelia Spilota’.
Saywell is a British-Australian author of two critically acclaimed novels, Desert Fish (2011) and Twitcher (2013) (both Vintage). Her short stories have won the Mslexia Short Story Prize and the V. S. Pritchett Prize and been shortlisted for several awards, including the Bath Short Story Award and the Asham Award. Her story ‘Pieces of Mars Have Fallen to Earth’ was selected for BBC Radio 4’s Opening Lines in 2015.
Lionel Shriver is an award-winning and bestselling American author.
Her novels include the National Book Award finalist So Much for That, the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World, and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the Orange Prize in 2006 and was made into a film starring Tilda Swinton.
Shriver won the BBC National Short Story Award for ‘Kilifi Creek’. She is also widely published as a journalist for the Guardian, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and many others.
A longstanding supporter of Pin Drop, Shriver has read her short stories to captivated audiences at BAFTA and the Royal Academy of Arts during the Anselm Kiefer exhibition in 2015.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Eddie Peake (b. 1981, London) studied at the Slade School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, where he graduated in 2013. Selected international exhibitions include Friendship of the Peoples, Simon Oldfield Gallery, London (2011), The Curve, Barbican, London (2015), Where You Belong, White Cube, Hong Kong (2016) and Concrete Pitch, White Cube Bermondsey, London (2018).
Kay Harwood (b. 1978, Lancashire) studied in London at the Slade School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, where she graduated in 2004. Since then, Harwood has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad, including Artfutures, at Bloomsberg Space, Simon Oldfield Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts.
Gabriella Boyd (b. 1988, Glasgow) studied at Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, where she graduated in 2017. Selected exhibitions include Dreamers Awake, White Cube Bermondsey, London (2017), Glasgow International (2018) and Help Yourself, Blain|Southern, London (2018). Boyd provided illustrations for the Folio Society’s publication of Freud’s Interpreting Dreams (2017).
Jonathan Trayte (b. 1980, UK) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2010. Selected exhibitions include Bloomberg New Contemporaries, ICA, London (2011), Art Icon, Under a Pine Tree, Simon Oldfield Gallery, London (2011) and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017), and Tropicana, Christies, London (2017).
Luey Graves (b. 1987, London) studied at the Slade School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, where she graduated in 2012. Selected exhibitions include Friendship of the Peoples, Simon Oldfield Gallery, London (2011), Image/Object, Furini Contemporary, Rome (2013), Symbolic Logic, Identity Art Gallery, Hong Kong (2014) and Studio Voltaire, London (2015).
Marco Palmieri (b. 1984, Tulsa) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2011. Selected exhibitions include Bloomberg New Contemporaries, ICA, London (2011), Wonderwheel, Depart Foundation, Miami (2015), Three Romans, Galler
ia Lorcan O’Neill Roma, Rome (2015) and the British Schools, Rome.
John Robertson (b. 1983, UK) studied at the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, where he graduated in 2012. Selected exhibitions include Art Britannia, Miami (2013), Tilt, Royal Academy of Arts (2014) and Abbey Scholar in Painting at the British School in Rome.
Coco Crampton (b. 1983, London) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2014. Selected exhibitions include Fourth Drawer Down, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham (2014) and All Over, Studio Leigh, London (2016).
Fani Parali (b. 1983, Greece) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2017. Selected exhibitions include Gender, Identity and Material, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2017), Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London (2017) and Glasgow International (2018).
Murray O’Grady (b. 1987, Essex) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2014. Selected exhibitions include Bloomberg New Contemporaries, ICA, London (2010) and Young British Art (2011/13). Murray was awarded the inaugural Vanguard Prize (2010) and was Artist in Residence at Burlington Arcade as part of the Royal Academy Arts Festival (2017).
Pio Abad (b. 1983, Manila) studied at the University of the Philippines, Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, where he graduated in 2012. Selected international exhibitions include e-flux, New York (2015), Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow (2016) and Art Basel Encounters, Art Basel, Hong Kong (2017).
Declan Jenkins (b. 1984, Isle of Wight) studied at New College Oxford and Wimbledon College of Art before graduating from the Royal Academy Schools in 2015. He presented his first solo exhibition, I Sing of Armoires…, Sims Reed Gallery, London (2017).
Mary Ramsden (b. 1984, North Yorkshire) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2013. Ramsden has exhibited widely, including New Order II: British Art Today, Saatchi Gallery London (2014), Art Now: Vanilla and Concrete, TATE Britain, London (2015) and Couples Therapy, Pilar Corrias, London (2017).
Carla Busuttil (b. 1982, Johannesburg) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2008. Selected international exhibitions include Newspeak: British Art Now, Saatchi Gallery, London (2010), We See (in) the Dark, Museum of African Design, Johannesburg, South Africa (2015), Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles (2015) and a Fashion Art Commission at 180 Strand, London (2018).
Jessy Jetpacks (b. 1987, Dubai) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2017. Selected exhibitions include Royal Academy America (2016), The Second Space, Xi’an Maike Centre, China (2017/18) and Glasgow International (2018).
Nick Goss (b. 1981, Bristol) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2009 and has exhibited widely. Selected exhibitions include Jerwood Contemporary Painters, Jerwood Space, London and national tour (2010), Bluing, Simon Preston Gallery, New York (2016).
Tim Ellis (b. 1981, Chester) graduated from the Royal Academy Schools in 2009. Selected exhibitions include Newspeak: British Art Now Part I, Saatchi Gallery, London (2010), Seduction, Simon Oldfield Gallery, London (2012), We Belong Together, Hong Kong (2013) and The London Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2015).
Adam Shield (b. 1988, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) studied at Newcastle University and the Royal Academy Schools, where he graduated in 2017. Selected exhibitions include Bearing Liability, Strange Cargo Gallery, Folkestone (2017) and Glasgow International (2018).
ABOUT PIN DROP STUDIO
Pin Drop, the home of short fiction, is a multifaceted arts and culture studio.
Pin Drop brings extraordinary short fiction to life, rooted in its critically acclaimed programme of live events, which sees world-renowned authors and actors take centre stage to read short fiction against the backdrop of prestigious institutions, such as BAFTA and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and other iconic venues in major cities across the globe.
Pin Drop’s audiences embrace the simple pleasure of listening to a story read aloud; the experience is the perfect counterpoint to a hyper-connected world. The essence of the events is captured in the Pin Drop podcast series for listeners to tune into wherever they may be.
As champions of the short story, Pin Drop also commissions original short fiction from bestselling authors and discovers new stories through the prestigious Pin Drop Short Story Award, an annual open-submission prize in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts.
Founded in 2012 by curator Simon Oldfield and author Elizabeth Day, Pin Drop is at the heart of a short-story renaissance.
pindropstudio.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am immeasurably grateful to countless people who have provided their support, guidance and encouragement. To you all, I offer my effusive thanks and immense gratitude.
Scribner invested their faith in me, Pin Drop and A Short Affair. For that I will always be indebted. To Ian Chapman and Suzanne Baboneau, I give my especial thanks.
To the authors who have contributed their stories to A Short Affair, you have my deepest appreciation, and to the artists who have created artworks in response to those stories.
Thank you to the extraordinarily talented authors, actors, artists and thinkers who have appeared live at Pin Drop and delivered spellbinding performances in locations across the globe, each one a step on the path to A Short Affair. I am indebted to you all: William Boyd, Sebastian Faulks, Stephen Fry, Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Siân Phillips, Sir Peter Blake, Graham Swift, Juliet Stevenson, Julian Barnes, Professor Richard Dawkins, Russell Tovey, A. C. Grayling, Jason Atherton, Tom Rob Smith, Selma Blair, Juliet Oldfield, Tracy Chevalier, Sean Delaney, Lisa Dwan, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Ruta Gedmintas, Viv Groskop, Elizabeth Healey, Evie Wyld, Maura Tierney, Rachel Johnson, Andy Burnham, Lea Carpenter, Sadie Jones, Duke & Joe Brooks, Aysha Kala, A. L. Kennedy, Olivia Laing, Sara Maitland, Lyndsey Marshal, Perdita Weeks, David Baddiel, Colum McCann, Prunella Scales, Alistair McGowan, Bel Mooney, Jeremy Neumark Jones, Lisa Hogg, David Nicholls, Ben Okri, Clara Paget, Gala Gordon, Tuppence Middleton, Molly Parkin, Alice Patten, Princess Julia, Polly Samson, Francesca Segal, Will Self, Owen Sheers, Lionel Shriver, Nikesh Shukla, Daniel Lismore, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Ed Stoppard, Sue Tilley, Mark Titchner, Tim Winton and Dame Penelope Wilton.
To the wonderful and dedicated Pin Drop team, you have my enduring thanks and gratitude, especially Anita Lawlor for working so closely with me on every line of this anthology. Thanks also to Julia Ravenscroft, Francesca Oldfield, Owen Richards, Flynn Warren and Thom Hill.
A special thank you to my dear friend and Pin Drop cofounder, Elizabeth Day, who worked tirelessly with me at the beginning to craft Pin Drop into the multi-faceted arts and culture studio it is today.
Thank you to all our incredible partners including BAFTA, Burberry, Soho House, Audible, the British Academy, Houses of Parliament, The New Craftsmen, Grosvenor Estate, Hauser & Wirth, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Dr Johnson’s House and The Charles Dickens Museum.
My sincerest thanks to everyone at the Royal Academy of Arts, particularly Humphrey Ocean RA who championed Pin Drop from the outset, and the Artistic Director, Tim Marlow, for his unflinching support and the foreword to this book. Thanks also to Amy Bluett, Kira Milmo and Eliza Bonham-Carter, who have keenly embraced our collaboration.
I am indebted to all the magnificent people who give invaluable support and loyalty to Pin Drop and give my special thanks to our board of trustees, advisers, members and patrons. I am particularly grateful to our Chairman Etienne de Villiers, Niall Curran, Bill Damaschke, Felicity Jones, Jacqueline Hurt, John McIlwee and Leslie Stern for representing Pin Drop and guiding me through.
Thanks also to the extraordinary people who have been part of the journey: Christopher Bailey, Vanessa Xuereb, Tom Russell, Will Bax, Jessica Bax, Tracey Markham, Sven Becker, Alison Bracker, Charlotte Appleyard, Clare Taylor, Tom Godfrey, Toby Spigel, Susan Holding, Ben Ravenscroft, Jeffrey Hinton, Sara Sassanelli, Matt Farrell, Amy Edwards, Emma-Jane Taylor, Ben Webster, Lucy Ellison, Caroline Michel, Nathaniel Lee-Jones, Pippa Brooks, Matthew and Thomas Ryan, Karen Fraser, Chris McCrudden, Oonagh Carnwath, Helen
Upton, Jo Whitford, Suzanne King, Dawn Burnett, Gill Richardson, Peter Zenneck, Troels Levring, Amy Williams, James Montague, Joe Stroud, Leslie Macleod-Miller, Maisie Lawrence, Will Atkins, Julian Shaw, Irha Atherton, Dea Vanagan, Simon Martin, Mark Henderson, Catherine Lock, Natalie Melton, Tino DeMartino, Barrie Livingstone, Marta Gut, Vicki King, Lisa Hall, Tig Teague, Candice Swift, Juliette Meinrath, Debbie Sim, Mandy Sim, Roya Nikkhah, Sue Reid, Nick Hornby, Tim Morris, Doug Miller, Kate Ellis, Julia Royse, Julie Lomax, Jean Wainwright, Oksana Kolomenskaya, Nick and Julie Harding, Keli Lee, Catherine Day, Ann Gilmore, Susan Boyd, Vivienne Sharpe and Tim McCormick, Stephanie and Julian Grose, Katherine Solomon, the Pilati family, Fawzia Kane, Helen Brocklebank, Helen Ervin, Rebecca Thornton, Andrea Wong, Matthew Appleton, Cormac Kinsella, Sinéad Gleeson, and Tom and Christine Day.
Finally, to my family, especially Tim Julian, Doris Julian, my sisters and my parents, Diane and Paul Oldfield.
COPYRIGHTS AND CREDITS
Introduction
Introduction © 2018 Simon Oldfield
Foreword
Foreword © 2018 Tim Marlow
‘On Heat’
‘On Heat’ © 2018 Elizabeth Day
Artwork by Kay Harwood, Cressida © 2018
‘Ms Featherstone and the Beast’
‘Ms Featherstone and the Beast’ © 2018 Bethan Roberts
Artwork by Gabriella Boyd, Instead He Clung to Her © 2018
‘Didi’s’
‘Didi’s’ © 2018 Nikesh Shukla
Artwork by Jonathan Trayte, Mysteries © 2018
‘A Quiet Tidy Man’
‘A Quiet Tidy Man’ © 2018 Claire Fuller
Artwork by Luey Graves, Sleeping Grubb © 2018