Date

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 19:30 - 20:45

Reverse Engineering II (In person)

Delve into the creative processes of three award-winning writers as they discuss writing and stories, including their contributions to Reverse Engineering II, the second in the innovative anthology series which reveals the inspiration, the ideals and the work involved in crafting a great short story. 

Reverse Engineering II brings together contemporary classic stories by some of the best writers working in the form today, alongside interviews with those writers about how their stories were written. Contributors to the book, Wendy ErskineTessa Hadley and Ben Okri disassemble their work in conversation with Alison MacLeod to reveal the processes, instincts and ideas behind the construction of their perfect short stories. 

‘An anthology to inspire and encourage anyone who reads it.’ - Colin Barrett

Wendy Erskine’s first collection of stories, Sweet Home, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize and won the 2020 Butler Literary Prize. Her second collection, Dance Move, was published earlier in 2022. She works as a school teacher in Belfast.

Tessa Hadley is the author of eight highly-acclaimed novels and three short story collections. In 2016, she was awarded the Windham Campbell Prize and the Hawthornden Prize. In 2018, she won the Edge Hill Prize for Bad Dreams and Other Stories. Her most recent novel is Free Love.

Ben Okri is a novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, and essayist from Nigeria. He is author of more than eighteen books and has received such literary prizes as the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Booker Prize for Fiction. His most recent short story collection is Prayer for the Living.

Alison MacLeod was awarded the Society of Authors Award for Short Fiction, nominated for the BBC National Short Story Award and the Sunday Times EFG International Short Story Award and her collection All the Beloved Ghosts was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and Canada's Governor General's Award. Her most recent novel is Tenderness. She was Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester until 2018 and is currently Visiting Professor. 

Scratch Books are a new publishing house dedicated to the craft of short stories. 

Reverse Engineering I & II are available to buy directly from Scratch Books.

N.B. This event will take place in person at The London Library. Please see our  Event Access and COVID Guidelines before you arrive. Doors (and the bar) open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.

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