1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? There are so many! But some who spring to mind include Anne Enright, Wells Tower, Peter Carey, Alice Munro, Raymond Carver, Borges, Kafka. 2.What is the most memorable short story you have read? And why does it stand out for … Read More
interviews
Spineless Wonders asks Sam Cooney
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? Ryan O’Neill, Eva Hornung, Peter Carey, Jessica Au, A.G. McNeil, Amanda Lohrey, Frank Moorhouse Gerard Murnane, Denis Johnson, David Foster Wallace, Doris Lessing, Donald Barthelme, Jorge Luis Barthes, Miranda July, Michael Cunningham, Raymond Carver. 2. What is the most memorable … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Michelle Cahill
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? I admire Cate Kennedy’s short stories, Maria Takolander’s psychological fragility, Nam Lee’s compelling realism and the fantasy in Tom Cho’s writing. I also like Roberto Bolaño, Sushma Joshi, Aravind Adiga, Jhumpa Lahiri. And of course I’ve loved reading Chekov, Borges, … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks Jon Steiner
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? Well, David Foster Wallace, for one, obviously. Here are some others: ZZ Packer, Robert Drewe, Jhumpa Lahiri, Grace Paley, Sam Shepard, Richard Yates. But also, I often read a story somewhere that totally blows me away—in the New Yorker, or … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks Kate Geyer
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? Miranda July, ZZ Packer, Alice Munro and Josephine Rowe. 2. What is the most memorable short story you have read? And why does it stand out for you? I read Helen Garner’s collection of short stories ‘My Hard Heart’ about … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks Yin Lin
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? I’ll confess straight up and say that I actually don’t read a huge amount of short stories. Most of the short fiction I’ve read is from high school. I like Cilla McQueen, Apirana Taylor, Katherine Mansfield… Hm, my English teachers … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Amanda Curtin
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? I admire Cate Kennedy immensely — Dark Roots feels like perfection to me. I (like so many people) was also hugely impressed with Nam Le’s The Boat, and other Australian collections I’ve loved include Josephine Rowe’s stories-in-miniature, When a Moth … Read More
Spineless Wonders asks Mark Vender
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? Most of the short fiction I’ve read has been in getting to know the writers’ marketplace, so more than authors, I take note of journals and ezines. Places where I’ve enjoyed the stories include Overland and Meanjin (in Australia), as … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks Susan McCreery
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? Amy Hempel, Miranda July, Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Peters, Wells Tower, Etgar Keret, Karen Hitchcock. 2. What is the most memorable short story you have read? And why does it stand out for you? Tricky, since I … Read More
Spineless Wonders Asks Andy Kissane
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)? My favourites include Jhumpa Lahiri, Raymond Carver, Lorrie Moore and A.L. Kennedy. This year I read the best short story cycle I’ve ever read, Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Olive Kitteridge. It’s a portrait of the inhabitants of a … Read More