Duets (In person)
Duets is the new anthology from groundbreaking short story publisher Scratch Books, which brings together the UK’s greatest short story authors to craft a new form of story. Eight pairs of writers have crafted eight highly original stories, each woven from collaboration and joint inspiration to respond, play, twist and subvert the short story form. Without the certainty of being in full control, Duets brings a new dimension to the drama of writing and reading.
Joining us to read from their stories, dissect the strange and exciting process of writing together and delve into the intricacies of crafting a short story, are two of those pairs: Jon McGregor & Gurnaik Johal and Ruby Cowling & Anna Wood, in conversation with author and award-winning novelist, Charlotte Mendelson.
Ruby Cowling grew up in Bradford and lives in London. Her short fiction has won The White Review Short Story Prize and the London Short Story Prize among other awards. Her collection This Paradise (Boiler House Press, 2019) was longlisted for the 2020 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and shortlisted for the 2020 Edge Hill Prize.
Gurnaik Johal is a writer from West London. His collection of stories, We Move, won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Tata First Book Award. He won the 2021/22 Galley Beggar Press short story prize and was shortlisted for the 2019 Guardian 4th Estate story prize. His first novel is forthcoming from Serpent’s Tail.
Jon McGregor is the author of five novels and two story collections. He has been longlisted for the Booker prize three times, shortlisted for the Goldsmiths, and has won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Betty Trask prize, the IMPAC prize, and the Costa Novel of the Year award. He lives in Nottingham.
Anna Wood has written for Mojo, The Quietus, Dazed and Caught By The River, and has had stories featured in the Guardian, the Canongate anthology My Old Man and the 3 of Cups anthology Outsiders. She was the winner of the Galley Beggar Short Story Prize 2018/19. Her debut collection of stories Yes Yes More More was published in 2021. She lives in London.
Charlotte Mendelson's novels include Daughters of Jerusalem, When We Were Bad, Almost English, The Exhibitionist and Wife. She has won both the Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, has been longlisted for the Booker Prize, and has been longlisted and shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. She has also written non-fiction and is the gardening correspondent for The New Yorker.
Scratch Books are a new publishing house dedicated to the craft of short stories. Previous collections have included Reverse Engineering I & II.
Duets will be available to buy at the event and online from Scratch Books
NB This event will take place in person at The London Library. Doors (and the bar) will open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. Please see our Event Access Guidelines before you arrive.
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