4th of July: Eileen Battersby’s best short stories for Independence Day

From Cheever to Ron Rash, Carver to Eudora Welty, O’Connor to Richard Ford, some of the finest American writing is to be found in the short form

The six authors in the mix for Frank O’Connor award

On Wednesday a winner will be announced for the most lucrative short-story prize in the world

Serena review: Lawrence and Cooper together again? We’re afraid so

Mayo writer Colin Barrett wins Frank O’Connor award with debut collection

Barrett is just second Irish winner of the €25,000 prize, after Edna O’Brien

Don’t shoehorn yourself into the wrong form of writing

Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Ron Rash and Deborah Levy all feel it is important for beginners to try out different forms – poems, novels, short stories, plays – to see what suits them and what excites them

Would you like to write a book?

Over the next 12 weeks we’ll be getting the help of successful authors to explain everything would-be writers need to know. This is the first step to your debut novel

Great winner, shame about the shortlist

Kevin Barry’s wonderful novel is a worthy winner of the Impac; but it was chosen from a shortlist that did not reflect the quality of the wider literary field

Literary luminaries gather in Galway for Cúirt

A time for ‘legends in their own lunchtime’

Life savers, crime perpetrators and trade secrets

The Cúirt festival brings a heavyweight literary line-up to Galway this week – here are 10 highlights