The shortlist has been announced for the inaugural Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize, the single biggest award in the world for a collection of short stories.
Six international authors were named on the shortlist for the award today, competing for a prize of €50,000, sponsored by O'Flynn Construction.
David Bezmozigs's 'Natasha and Other Stories' (Jonathan Cape), Alice Hoffman's 'Blackbird House' (Chatto & Windus), Bret Anthony Johnston's 'Corpus Christi' (Random House), Yiyun Li's 'A Thousand Years of Good Prayers' (Random House), David Means' 'The Secret Goldfish' (Fourth Estate) and Tim Winton's 'The Turning' (Picador) were all shortlisted for the prize.
The books were selected from the 60-strong long list by a five-member jury which included Chairperson Val McDermid (UK), Desmond Hogan (Ireland), Lames Lasdun (UK/USA), Mary Leland (Ireland) and Hansjörg Schertenleib (Switzerland).
The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize has been organised by the Munster Literature Centre in Ireland and Cork 2005, as part of the literary programme of Cork's current tenure as European Capital of Culture.
The award honours Frank O'Connor, one of the Ireland's most renowned short story writers. The winner of the prize will be announced in September.
