April Newsletter: masterclasses & more
Inspiration & conversation
A huge thank you to everyone who attended the outstanding April masterclass with Lucy Caldwell, brilliantly kick-starting our new Small Like A Bullet series.
Coming up next - two inspiring online events: another unmissable masterclass and details of our next short story club.
WORD FACTORY PRESENTS: SMALL LIKE A BULLET (2) Wednesday May 7th
With Tom Vowler
One writer, one story. An in-depth series of exclusive masterclasses on the short story form running until July 2025.
The second story in our series is Tom Vowler's V.S Pritchett Prize-winning story, Voyagers. You can read it here. Don’t forget: paid subscribers can choose one masterclass for free by contacting cathy@thewordfactory.tv
Free subscribers: please book here.
Join us as Tom guides us through the motivation for his story, the finer details of writing and re-writing, the influences that shaped it - with additional thoughts on the lessons from that process that might work for you. Over an hour and a half there will be time for questions and a few exercises.
The event will be filmed and made available to participants.
Other upcoming classes in this series include Jonathan Taylor (June 17th); Kirsty Gunn (July 8th) and Sophie Haydock (July 16).
The Author:
Tom Vowler is an award-winning author whose work has featured on BBC radio and been translated into multiple languages. A university lecturer in creative writing, he also tutors for Arvon. His latest book is a chapbook of flash fiction, titled The Trajectory of Ghosts. In 2024 he won the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize.
More at : www.tomvowler.com
SHORT STORY CLUB: Wednesday April 30th
The Coat by Carys Davies introduced by Tom Harvey.
THE STORY
‘Evangelina the only person who didn’t believe that the emptiness out in the bay, the mist, and the water creeping soundlessly back and forth beneath the moon, in and out over the sands, were the silence of a man doing his best to disappear.’
We are delighted to welcome you to our April short story club, to discuss a story by Carys Davies.
The Coat comes from Davies’s second short story collection The Redemption of Galen Pike. Winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize.
The story is narrated by Margaret who has become a regular visitor to Evangelina Hine, and tries to offer comfort to her around the disappearance of her husband Joseph over a year ago. Joseph was the village blacksmith and Evangelina keeps his masculine coat permanently on a hook by the door awaiting his return. Margaret begins her visits as a neighbourly act, but keeps the visits going out of something more.
The story is many things. A study of pity, of hope, of repression. It was published over ten years ago, yet manages to be full of contemporary observations on masculinity. It does the thing I love most about a short story, and includes so much of the focus of the story in the first few paragraphs, hinting at where to look and what to look for.
THE AUTHOR
Carys Davies Carys Davies is the author of two short story collections, The Redemption of Galen Pike and Some New Ambush. She has written three novels: West, The Mission House and Clear. Along with her awards for Galen Pike she has won numerous awards around the world for her short fiction and novels.
Introduced by Tom Harvey
Tom won the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, and placed second in the Mairtín Crawford award. Tom’s work has appeared in literary journals in the US, England and Ireland. Tom is currently finalising his story collection on neuro-divergent masculinity.
Paid subscribers can attend for free: request a Zoom link at cathy@thewordfactory.tv
Free subscribers book your ticket here.