Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award

The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award—named in honour of Frank O'Connor, who devoted much of his work to the form—was an international literary award presented for the best short story collection. It was presented between 2005 and 2015.^[1] The prize amount, €25,000 as of 2012^[update], is one of the richest short-story collection prizes in the world (see also Premio de Narrativa Breve Ribera del Duero).^[2] Each year, roughly sixty books were longlisted, with either four or six books shortlisted, the ultimate decision made by three judges.

Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award
Awarded for	Best short story collection
Sponsored by	Cork City Council
Location	Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival, Cork, Ireland
Country	Ireland
Presented by	Munster Literature Centre
First awarded	2005
Last awarded	2015
Website	[1]

History

In 2000, the Cork, Ireland Munster Literature Centre organised the first Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival,^[3] an event dedicated to the celebration of the short story and named for Cork writer Frank O'Connor. The festival showcases readings, literary forums and workshops. Following continued growth and additional funding, the Cork City – Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award was introduced in 2005,^[3] coinciding with Cork's designation as that year's European Capital of Culture.

In 2008 there was no shortlist, as the judges considered the winning book, Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, as being superior to other books on the longlist.^[4]

The award was discontinued in 2016.^[1]

Recipients

 

Haruki Murakami

 

Miranda July

 

Simon Van Booy

Year	Winner	Collection	Shortlisted nominees & collections	Ref(s)
2005	Yiyun Li	A Thousand Years of Good Prayers	David Bezmozgis – Natasha and Other Stories Alice Hoffman – Blackbird House Bret Anthony Johnston – Corpus Christi Tim Winton – The Turning David Means – The Secret Goldfish	^[5]
2006	Haruki Murakami	Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman	Rachel Sherman – The First Hurt Samrat Upadhyay – The Royal Ghosts Rose Tremain – The Darkness of Wallis Simpson Philip Ó Ceallaigh – Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse Peter Stamm – In Strange Gardens and Other Stories	^[6]
2007	Miranda July	No One Belongs Here More than You	Simon Robson – The Separate Heart and Other Stories Olaf Olafsson – Valentines Etger Keret – Missing Kissinger Manuel Muñoz – The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue Charlotte Grimshaw – Opportunity	^[7]
2008	Jhumpa Lahiri	Unaccustomed Earth	No shortlist issued.	^[8]
2009	Simon Van Booy	Love Begins in Winter	Petina Gappah – An Elegy for Easterly Wells Tower – Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Shih-Li Kow – Ripples and Other Stories Philip Ó Ceallaigh – The Pleasant Light of Day Charlotte Grimshaw – Singularity	^[9]^[10]
2010	Ron Rash	Burning Bright	T. C. Boyle – Wild Child David Constantine – The Shieling Robin Black – If I Loved You I Would Tell You This Belle Boggs – Mattaponi Queen Laura van den Berg – What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us	^[11]
2011	Edna O'Brien	Saints and Sinners	Yiyun Li, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl Alexander MacLeod, Light Lifting Suzanne Rivecca, Death is Not an Option Colm Tóibín, The Empty Family Valerie Trueblood, Marry or Burn	^[12]
2012	Nathan Englander	What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank	Kevin Barry, Dark Lies the Island Fiona Kidman, The Trouble with Fire Sarah Hall, The Beautiful Indifference Etgar Keret, Suddenly a Knock on the Door Lucia Perillo, Happiness is a Chemical in the Brain	^[13]^[2]
2013	David Constantine	Tea at the Midland and Other Stories	Tamas Dobozy, Siege 13 Deborah Levy, Black Vodka Joyce Carol Oates, Black Dahlia & White Rose Peter Stamm, We're Flying Claire Vaye Watkins, Battleborn	^[14]
2014	Colin Barrett	Young Skins	Laura van den Berg, The Isle of Youth A. L. Kennedy, All the Rage Phil Klay, Redeployment Ben Marcus, Leaving the Sea Lorrie Moore, Bark	^[15]
2015	Carys Davies	The Redemption of Galen Pike	Karen Bender, Refund Tony Earley, Mr. Tall Kirsty Gunn, Infidelities Thomas McGuane, Crow Fair Alejandro Zambra, My Documents	^[16]

See also

• Irish short story, detailing the importance of the short story form in Irish culture

References

1. "Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, 2005-2015". Munster Literature Centre. Retrieved 27 August 2017. The Munster Literature regrets to announce that the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award is to be discontinued in 2016
2. Flood, Alison (9 July 2012). "Nathan Englander wins 2012 Frank O'Connor short story award". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
3. "Writer scoops Cork award". Irish Examiner. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
4. Irvine, Lindesay (5 July 2008). "Jhumpa Lahiri jumps the shortlist to world's richest short story prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
5. Crown, Sarah (26 September 2005). "Inaugural short story award goes to debut author". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
6. Pauli, Michelle (18 July 2006). "Murakami and Tremain on Frank O'Connor shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
7. Crown, Sarah (23 July 2007). "Big names miss out on Frank O'Connor shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
8. Irvine, Lindesay (5 July 2008). "Jhumpa Lahiri jumps the shortlist to world's richest short story prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
9. Lea, Richard (29 June 2009). "Debut authors dominate shortlist for Frank O'Connor award". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
10. Flood, Alison (21 September 2009). "Simon Van Booy wins world's richest short story prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
11. Flood, Alison (9 July 2010). "US writers dominate Frank O'Connor award shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
12. "Edna O'Brien wins Frank O'Connor Award". Irish Examiner. 18 September 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
13. Flood, Alison (7 June 2012). "Nathan Englander set to head race for 2012 Frank O'Connor award". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
14. Alison Flood (31 May 2013). "Frank O'Connor short story award pits UK authors against international stars". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
15. Eileen Battersby (11 July 2014). "Mayo writer Colin Barrett wins Frank O'Connor award with debut collection". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
16. Alison Flood (8 July 2015). "Frank O'Connor award won by 'truly original' stories of Carys Davies". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2016.

External links

• The Cork City – Frank O'Connor Short Story Award 12 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine, city website
• Munster Literature Centre