Suspend Your Disbelief

Shop Talk

Murakami accepts Jerusalem Prize

by Anne Stameshkin

In his acceptance speech, Haruki Murakami defends his decision to accept the Jerusalem Prize, which some Palestinian groups pressured him to refuse. Any number of times after receiving notice of the award, I asked myself whether traveling to Israel at a time like this and accepting a literary prize was the proper thing to do, whether this would create the impression that I supported one side in the conflict, that I endorsed the policies of a nation that chose to unleash its overwhelming military power. This is an impression, of course, that I would not wish to give. I do […]


Preeta Samarasan on Commonwealth shortlist!

by Anne Stameshkin

The 2009 South East Asia and Pacific regional short lists for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize have been announced, and FWR contributor Preeta Samarasan’s Evening is the Whole Day made the cut for Best First Book. Congratulations, Preeta!! Here are the short lists: Best Book Aravind Adiga, Between The Assassinations Helen Garner, The Spare Room Joan London, The Good Parents Paula Morris, Forbidden Cities Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap Tim Winton, Breath Best First Book Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger Nam Le, The Boat Mo Zhi Hong, The Year of The Shanghai Shark Bridget van der Zijpp, Misconduct Preeta Samarasan, Evening is […]


short story bubble?

by Anne Stameshkin

On the Virginia Quarterly Review blog, Michael Lukas worries that AWP’s heightened emphasis on the short story is a contributing factor to what he calls the “Short Story Bubble”–and its eventual burst. I’m not sure I entirely buy his argument, but hey, it’s worth discussing… All around the country, thousands of young fiction writers are scribbling furiously, focusing their creative and psychological energies on producing and publishing short stories, not necessarily because the short story is their favorite form. But, rather, because it’s the form best suited to the workshop, because they think it’s the easiest way to get published, […]


Shivani Manghnani wins AAWW/Hyphen contest

by Anne Stameshkin

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop and Hyphen announced today that Shivani Manghnani‘s “Playing the Sheik” has won their 2008 Short Story Contest. The story will appear this April in Hyphen‘s Issue 17. Among the finalists is FWR contributor Celeste Ng, for her story “Girls, At Play.” Congrats to Shivani, and to Celeste and the other finalists! The AAWW is currently selling raffle tickets ($20 apiece) to raise money for the Workshop and support Asian American literature. The prize, should you wish to enter, is this rather fetching Vespa.


20 years ago, McEwan offered Rushdie safe haven

by Anne Stameshkin

Two decades after the fatwa was issued against Salman Rushdie, it’s been revealed that Ian McEwan offered the author a place to hide — a cottage in the Cotswolds — and joined him there for some time. From the Guardian: This intimate detail is contained in a long profile of McEwan published in next week’s issue of the New Yorker. Written by an editor at the magazine, Daniel Zalewski, it explores McEwan’s growing commitment to science and rationality as a factor, alongside the Rushdie affair, behind the controversy over Islamic fundamentalism in which he later became embroiled. The Cotswold encounter […]


After AWP

by Jeremiah Chamberlin

It’s a sunny Sunday morning when we wake and ready ourselves to depart Chicago. Gazing out the the window of our room on the 23rd floor of the Hilton, I can see a host of over-sized snow sculptures across the street in Grant Park—enormous frogs kissing, a six-foot tall hamburger, a gigantic head of Einstein, and an anatomically correct heart the size of a Volkswagen that is now broken in pieces, presumably after a bad Valentine’s Day last night. Beyond the park, stretching toward the horizon line, Lake Michigan is the color of blued, tin siding. It might be sunny, […]


February/March preview and call for submissions

by Anne Stameshkin

write for us… Fiction Writers Review is seeking to grow our community of contributors. If you’re interested in writing a review, essay, or interview for us, check out our updated submissions guidelines. coming soon… Over the next few weeks, we’ll publish reviews of the following books (and more): Novels The Mayor’s Tongue by Nathaniel Rich, Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen, Beijing Coma by Ma Jiang, and The Women by T.S. Boyle Story collections In the Convent of Little Flowers by Indu Sundaresan and Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff Biography Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis We’ll also offer some […]


"what they need is a damn good reading"

by Anne Stameshkin

“Books were once subversive things, causing revolutions, and stimulating unimagined sexual awakenings…These days, opening a book – any book – is seen as nothing more than part of good citizenship, and something that might just help you on the path to prosperity to boot.” Alastair Harper gets satirical on the Guardian Books Blog, raising questions about indiscriminate reading and experiments like OUP’s Project X: There is a presumption that if the worst, most delinquent tearaways would just put down their machetes for a moment and sit down to read a good book, they would instantly see the merit in a […]


Fiction Writers Review at AWP!

by Anne Stameshkin

If you’ll be at AWP in Chicago this Thursday-Saturday, do stop by the University of Michigan table, where FWR will be representing with giveaway magnets and bookmarks; we’re hoping to spread the word about our site, grow our community of writers and readers, connect with publishers, and learn about new and forthcoming books. Sadly I won’t be at AWP myself (this wretched pneumonia forced me to cancel my flight today), but a number of FWR contributors will be in attendance, among them Associate Editor Jeremiah Chamberlin, who has generously offered to coordinate FWR efforts at the conference. If you’re longing […]


recommended review: Erika Dreifus on How to Write Like Chekhov

by Anne Stameshkin

Apologies for these very short blog entries, FWR readers. I have a bad bout of pneumonia and my drugged brain is not operating on all cylinders. So please, go yonder and read this wonderful review on The Practicing Writer of How to Write Like Chekhov: Advice and Inspiration, Straight from His Own Letters and Work (edited by Piero Brunello and Lena Lencek, translated from the Russian and Italian by Lena Lencek; published Nov. 2008 by Da Capo Press).




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