The Short Story Podcast

Livi Michael

The podcast that discusses great short stories and greatness in the short story form. read less
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Small Pleasures Episode 17: Ruby Cowling 'Emeralds Live'
Mar 13 2024
Small Pleasures Episode 17: Ruby Cowling 'Emeralds Live'
Ruby Cowling's extraordinary realisms

Episodes

Small Pleasures Episode 17: Ruby Cowling 'Emeralds Live'
Mar 13 2024
Small Pleasures Episode 17: Ruby Cowling 'Emeralds Live'
Ruby Cowling's extraordinary realisms
Small Pleasures Episode 16: Michel Faber 'Some Rain Must Fall' and 'The Fahrenheit Twins'
Feb 18 2024
Small Pleasures Episode 16: Michel Faber 'Some Rain Must Fall' and 'The Fahrenheit Twins'
The visionary worlds of Michel Faber.
Small Pleasures Episode 15: Albertine Sarrazin
Nov 12 2023
Small Pleasures Episode 15: Albertine Sarrazin
Two stories of resistance and subversion.
Small Pleasures Episode 14: Ailsa Cox’s Cocky Watchman
Oct 1 2023
Small Pleasures Episode 14: Ailsa Cox’s Cocky Watchman
A complex and multi-layered short story, about a place haunted by the past.
Small Pleasures Episode 13: Clare Louise Bennett’s Finishing Touch and Control Knobs
Jun 18 2023
Small Pleasures Episode 13: Clare Louise Bennett’s Finishing Touch and Control Knobs
A discussion of two great short stories from 'Pond' by Claire-Louise Bennett
Small Pleasures Episode 12 Maxim Osipov’s ’Big Opportunities’
May 8 2023
Small Pleasures Episode 12 Maxim Osipov’s ’Big Opportunities’
A short story about a whole nation.
Small Pleasures Episode 11 Louise Erdrich’s ’The Shawl’
Apr 9 2023
Small Pleasures Episode 11 Louise Erdrich’s ’The Shawl’
Possibly the best short story ever written...
Small Pleasures Episode 10 Lucia Berlin’s ’Dear Conchi’
Mar 5 2023
Small Pleasures Episode 10 Lucia Berlin’s ’Dear Conchi’
Today we discuss the epistolary short story ‘Dear Conchi’, with our first guest, Lucia Berlin expert, Nina Ellis.
Small Pleasures Episode 9 Idza Luhumyo’s Five Years Next Sunday
Jan 22 2023
Small Pleasures Episode 9 Idza Luhumyo’s Five Years Next Sunday
The 2022 Caine Prize winning short story from Idza Luhumyo.
Small Pleasures Episode 8 Jon McGregor’s The Singing
Dec 18 2022
Small Pleasures Episode 8 Jon McGregor’s The Singing
A consummately skilful and nuanced short story about loss.
Small Pleasures Episode 7 Anna Seghers’ The Dead Girls Class Trip
Nov 13 2022
Small Pleasures Episode 7 Anna Seghers’ The Dead Girls Class Trip
A dramatically intense and innovative short story about the devastating effects of Fascism.
Small Pleasures Episode 6: Leila Aboulela’s ’Missing Out’
Oct 22 2022
Small Pleasures Episode 6: Leila Aboulela’s ’Missing Out’
A sensitive and complex story about the pressures on a young couple who move to a foreign country, with a different culture and religious faith.
Small Pleasures Episode 5: Daniel Mason’s ’Death of the Pugilist’
Sep 11 2022
Small Pleasures Episode 5: Daniel Mason’s ’Death of the Pugilist’
'Death of the Pugilist, or the Famous Battle of Jacob Burke & Blindman McGraw' is the extraordinary story of a bareknuckle fight in 19th century England.
Small Pleasures Episode 4: Sheila Armstrong ’Red Market’
Sep 11 2022
Small Pleasures Episode 4: Sheila Armstrong ’Red Market’
Episode description not available.
Small Pleasures Ep 3: Tessa Hadley’s ’Bad dreams’
Jul 24 2022
Small Pleasures Ep 3: Tessa Hadley’s ’Bad dreams’
'Bad Dreams’ is a supremely skilful and multi-layered short story about how a young girl's nightmare intrudes into reality. Hadley, Tessa, ‘Bad Dreams’ collected in Bad Dreams, (London: Jonathan Cape, 2017).
Small Pleasures Episode 2: Graham Mort’s ’A Walk in the Snow’
Jul 24 2022
Small Pleasures Episode 2: Graham Mort’s ’A Walk in the Snow’
Powerful and brilliant imagery juxtaposes a couple walking in the snow in northern England with the vigil of a mother at her son’s hospital bed in war-torn Iraq. Mort, Graham, ‘A Walk in the Snow’ collected in Touch (Bridgend: Seren, 2010).
Small Pleasures Episode 1: Alice Munro’s ’The Children Stay’
Jul 24 2022
Small Pleasures Episode 1: Alice Munro’s ’The Children Stay’
‘The Children Stay’ is a short story about a young wife who takes the role of Eurydice in an amateur theatrical production, with life-changing consequences. Munro, Alice, ‘The Children Stay’ collected in The Love of a Good Woman (London: Chatto & Windus, 1998).