Every 10 years a list of Next Generation Poets is produced. I think there's an emerging consensus about which authors from Eire and the UK would be on a similar list for story-writers. Their names appear regularly in anthologies and on the back of other people's books even if they haven't published a short story book themselves for a while. As with the poets, age is not a factor. More important is that none of these writers have produced many short story collections yet, that perhaps the best is yet to come -
- Elizabeth Baines - Used to be, Balancing on the edge of the world
- Colin Barrett - Young Skins
- Carys Bray - Sweet home
- Stuart Evers - Ten stories about smoking
- David Gaffney - The half-life of songs
- Vanessa Gebbie - Storm Warning, Words from a glass bubble
- Sarah Hall - The Beautiful Indifference
- Tania Hershman - My mother was an upright piano, The White Road
- Adam Marek - The stone thrower
- Danielle McLaughlin - Dinosaurs on other planets
- Alison Moore - The-Pre-war House
- K.J. Orr - The Light Box
- Angela Readman - Don't try this at home
- David Rose - Posthumous Stories
- Tom Vowler - The Method
My current favourites are Elizabeth Baines, Sarah Hall and Danielle McLaughlin. I've not read Janice Galloway, Kirsty Logan, or Clare Wigfall otherwise they'd probably be on the list too. Doubtless I've forgotten some of my other favourites. Apologies in advance.
I've a soft spot for Matthew Francis, Guy Ware and Chris Beckett, but they've probably not produced enough. And though I like much of Jon McGregor's work, I don't think his This Isn't The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You suffices to include him here.
My story collection "By All Means" (ISBN 978-0-9570984-9-7), published by Nine Arches Press, is on sale from 
My poetry pamphlet "Moving Parts" (ISBN 978-1-905939-59-6) is out now, on sale at the 
Thank you for your faith, Tim! Third collection due out some time in 2017, from Cultured Llama - all odd/surreal/strange pieces - prov title: A Short History of Synchronised Breathing.
ReplyDeleteWithout doing other stuff (poetry, teaching, etc) it might be rather hard for short story writers to stay in the public eye.
DeleteWhile making the list I wondered where we'd be without Salt. Also I was struck by the age of these authors when their first book came out.