Longlisted for the the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award, she had no chance of being shortlisted for the same ... because, of course, there wasn't a shortlist in the end.
But Wena has been invited to read her work at the Frank O’Connor Literary Festival in Cork, Ireland, on September 17-21, 2008. Also appearing will be Jhumpa Lahiri, Yiyun Li, Clare Wigfall and ZZ Packer. You just don't get bigger names in short fiction than these.
As Wena reminds us on her blog :
This is the first time a Singaporean author, and MPH, a Malaysian publisher, appeared on the FOC longlist. The longlist had a preponderance of authors from the West: 36 out of 39 authors. Only 3 authors were not from the West - they were from Singapore (Wena Poon), Nigeria and Taiwan.What I hope for most now is a way for Wena's book to find it's way into the hands of a wider readership overseas ...
(Pic above is Wena being interviewed recently on Channel News Asia.)
3 comments:
Congrats to Wena. I enjoyed her book very much. Reading alongside Yiyun Li, and Lahiri, wow!
On a very sad note, Solzhenitsyn passed away.
yes, just heard this p.m. about Solzhenitsyn and will post something later
Congrats to Wena. Each breakout from this region opens the door a little wider for the rest of us who are actively writing and promoting our work. There'a huge readership outside of Malaysia and Singapore. Let's find it.
Robert
Lovers and Strangers Revisited
Post a Comment