New beginnings can be exciting, fun, and an opportunity to start afresh. They can also be frightening, unfamiliar, and isolating. In keeping with this month’s theme of firsts, Molly Antopol’s new collection of short stories, The UnAmericans, explores these ideas of new beginnings, fresh starts, and first homes never forgotten. Through the eyes of a variety of characters who have migrated from their homes, but who remain ‘alien’ to the societies in which they end up, Antopol gives us an insight into what it means to be the minority. Read more…
Short stories really hit the big time in Britain in the Victorian and modernist period – at exactly the same time that the professional woman writer became a force to be reckoned with. The two have been wed ever since in a spectacularly successful union. The BBC short story award had an all-woman shortlist this year, as it did the year before. And, as usual, the 4th Estate list showcases some of the very best female short story writers around.
