6 December 2021 12:12 am Views - 630
A six-word story regarding a pair of baby shoes is considered an extreme example of creativity.
Categorized under the sub-genre, ‘Fash Fiction’ is Ernest Hemingway’s story written in merely six words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” [Authorship; controversial, though], Hemingway considered this as his finest story. We hear on the grapevine— that it was in North Africa, during an informal discussion among writers, held at a Pub, a bigwig said that they should write the best and shortest story. They all had stories. Hemingway came up with his: “For sale: baby shoes, never warn.” just six words. It’s just miraculous what you can do with the six words: a book, a movie, a short story, a poem—anything and everything one wants to do. The entire story is genuinely minor in tone. Volumes have been written by critiques on the Six word story!
Literary Advisory Board of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka, recognizes the importance of the encouragement of the work by our writers both nationally and internationally to ensure Sri Lanka is recognized for its writers and its quality writing. My first short story collection titled, “Under the Lovi Tree” was published last year. One of the most prestigious recognitions that an author can get is receiving a literary award for all the hard work in publishing a book. It has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and publishers. In the literature world there are several awards that recognise the best books. The world’s most important literary award is The Booker Prize for Fiction which promotes the finest in literary fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year.
"The short story received comparatively little critical awareness as a genre until the middle of the 20th century. Most other academic discussions, however, were established in one way or another on Allan Poe’s idea that stories must have a solid unified effect"
A writer friend of mine described something he did whenever he moved to his table.—there is some object on his desk that he touches before he touches the computer keyboard. We talked about little rituals that some of us go through before we begin to write. Writers devise ways to approach mysterious process. I do not engage in such superstitions; for they create conflict. Only a conflict free mind can do creative things. They say, “Creativity flourishes in a conflict free mind.” Divisions, race, religion, caste, creed, create conflict; hampers free thinking.
Fictional prose which is brief is shorter than a novel and deals with only a few characters; it is usually concerned with a solitary effect expressed in only one or a few important episodes. It omits a complex plot; character is unveiled in action and staged encounter but is rarely fully developed. Its relatively limited in scope, a short story is often evaluated by its capacity to offer a satisfying treatment of its characters and theme. Short story was not generally regarded as a distinct literary form until the early 19th century. But it is not an exclusively modern genre; the fact is that short fiction is almost as old as language itself. Throughout history people has enjoyed a variety of types of brief narratives; anecdotes and banter. None of these creates a short story as has been defined, yet they do make up a great part of the backdrop from which the modern short fiction emerged.
The short story received comparatively little critical awareness as a genre until the middle of the 20th century. Most other academic discussions, however, were established in one way or another on Allan Poe’s idea that stories must have a solid unified effect.
The Prize, known as the Booker Prize for Fiction [1969–2001], was renamed the Man Booker Prize in 2002; presently it is called just, Booker Prize, which is a prize awarded for the best novel written in English and published exclusively in the United Kingdom or Ireland. When the prize was initially opened, it accepted novels written by Commonwealth citizens, Irish, and some South African citizens as well. A panel of seven persons that included authors, literary agents, librarians, and publishers, is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation for judging the entries.
"The short story received comparatively little critical awareness as a genre until the middle of the 20th century. Most other academic discussions, however, were established in one way or another on Allan Poe’s idea that stories must have a solid unified effect"
Literary critics in all parts of the globe have acknowledged that it is a mark of respect for writers to be named to be nominated for the ‘long-list’, or inclusion in the short-list . Since Booker, McConnell Ltd began sponsoring the event in 1969, the prize was established as the Booker Prize for Fiction. The cash award with the Booker Prize was originally £21,000, and was later raised to £50,000 in 2002 under the Man Group, making it the richest literary prizes in the world.
In 1992, the jury split the prize between Sri Lankan renowned writer Michael Ondaatje for his novel, The English Patient and Barry Unsworth, prompting the foundation to draw up a rule making it mandatory for the jury to declare just a single book. In 1997, the decision to award Indian writer Arundhati Roy’s ‘The God of Small Things’ proved controversial. Chairman of the previous year’s Booker judge panel, Carmen Callils called it an “execrable” book and that it should not even have been on the shortlist.
Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Commonwealth Writers was established in 2011, as a cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation, with the aim of inspiring, developing and connecting writers within. It mainly focuses on making a literary award for short stories, among the citizens of the Commonwealth and is called the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. It is awarded with a cash prize of £5,000. Sri Lankan writer, Kanya D’Almeida won the prize in 2020 for her story titled, “I Cleaned the ____,” Kanya is a MFA graduate of Columbia University who specializes in motherhood in Sri Lanka. …. Her story theme is “domestic labour, abandonment, romantic encounters behind bathroom doors, and human waste.”
Short Stories are precise fictional prose that lifts up day to day events. Reading fiction is like listening to soothing piece of music—it quietens mind, relieves stress; they are only pieces of art motivated by others, of others, for others. Once Sinclair Lewis had asked a budding writer, ‘Do you know what every story has in common, from Little Miss Muffet to Moby Dick? –‘Conflict’, he had said. If the spider was a nice little spider – no story. “If we think about it carefully, life itself is a series of stories. Good writers listen and then present them to the world,” said Usula Wijesuriya my literature teacher in JSC Form, 64 years ago.
kksperera@gmail.com
KKS wins Best Short Story Collect at the State Literary Awards 2021
Daily Mirror’s columnist KKS Perera’s short story collection ‘Under the Lovi Tree’ won the Best Short Story collection (English) at the recently held State Literary Awards - 2021.
Following is a note written by the award winning writer about his journey as a writer and his award.
“Our teacher’s review of Martin Wickremasinge’s short story Begal , in Apegama, in the JSC class, was an inspiration. We were asked to write our own “Tall Stories”. Mine, she read out to the class. The seed planted 64 years ago lay dormant with career, family taking up this time— no writing until retirement, and sprouted as “Under the Lovi Tree,” the maiden Collection of Short Stories.
Having nostalgic memories of sprinting to the garden under the sunshine, greenery, and the breeze, that conspired with each other to create an enchanting environment on a background of red, pink and green fruits, for picking few Lovi, for it was Grandma’s favourite dessert; a decade later, I enjoyed a savoury bite with mother’s Lovi jam, and continues with wife taking over the task. As of now, being ordered to shut the laptop and leave the desk, I do oblige the tiny granddaughters who want to pluck a few fresh Lovis for they don’t touch the fallen ones!
The Lovi flowers usually teem with minute bee-like insects gathering honey. Their light humming was playing second fiddle to the sweet melodies of the battichchas singing hosannas to the dawn, when I received a call from organizers of State Literary Awards, saying that the book has been nominated. I marvelled; the tiny yellowish petals of Lovi flowers competed with the withered yellow-brown leaves to reach the ground as they come floating down in rusty golden showers.
Sooner or later a dark shadow of the Lovi tree will stretch over the front garden. The mournful cawing of the crows would mute the birdsongs and the buzzing of the bees that filled the air. A weird breeze would sweep across creating a ghostly noise. Will the place look haunted then?
Let me confess; the Award, in reality, belongs to the senior print media journalists who encouraged me by publishing every piece I forwarded over past decade to receive accolades from readers. I thank the Cultural Department for a very well organized event, and my teachers, family and well-wishes for their sincerity.”