Join us for an evening with three of the latest authors on Salt Publishing’s new MODERN STORIES imprint – Clare Fisher, David Frankel and David Gaffney. Clare, David and David will be reading from their work and discussing the place of the short story in modern culture with host Nicholas Royle, editor of Best British Short Stories and director of Nightjar publishing.

About the books:

Clare Fisher’s THE MOON IS TRENDING explores of feelings of failure around gender, sexuality, and work, that arise in a success-obsessed capitalist culture. Dazzling, playful, and experimental, it veers between the real, the surreal and the absurd.

In David Frankel’s FORGETTING HOW WE SURVIVE, people are haunted by ghosts of the past, tormented by doppelgangers and pining for the futures that have been lost to them. It is another England where earthy realism hides another world where anything is possible.

David Gaffney’s CONCRETE FIELDS is a set of haunting and funny stories that explore the theme of town versus country. His dark humour and surreal spin demonstrates a deep understanding of how places, urban or rural, can shape, influence and sometimes distort our lives.

About the authors:

Clare Fisher is a novelist, short story writer, creative writing teacher and editorial consultant. Her debut novel All the Good Things (Viking, Penguin, 2017) won a Betty Trask Award and was published in eight territories worldwide. How the Light Gets In, a collection of short stories was published by Influx in 2018, and longlisted for the Edgehill Short Story Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize. She lives in Leeds.

David Frankel was born in Salford and raised on the westerly fringes of Manchester. His short stories have been shortlisted in several competitions including The Bristol Prize, The Bridport Prize, The ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, The Willesden Herald, and the Fish Memoir Prize. His work has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, and also in a chapbook by Nightjar Press. He also writes nonfiction exploring memory and landscape.

David Gaffney lives in Manchester. He is the author of the novels Never Never (2008), All The Places I’ve Ever Lived ( 2017) and Out Of The Dark (2022) plus the flash fiction and short story collections Sawn-Off Tales (2006), Aromabingo (2007), The Half-Life of Songs (2010) and More Sawn-Off Tales (2013). His graphic novels with Dan Berry include The Three Rooms In Valerie’s Head (2018) and Rivers (2021) ‘Sad, funny fables recalling evanescent moments of connection and happiness. One hundred and fifty words by Gaffney are more worthwhile than novels by a good many others.’ The Guardian

Doors: 18.30, event starts: 18.45

Tickets are £3.00. All three book will be available to purchase on the night and the authors will be signing copies after the talk. If you would like a signed copy but cannot make the event, please contact us on 0161 274 3331 or manchester@blackwell.co.uk and we can arrange this for you.