Cornish Short Stories: A Collection of Contemporary Cornish Writing

by Emma Timpany (Editor), Felicity Notley (Editor), Philipa Aldous

Ghosts walk in the open and infidelities are conducted in plain sight. Two teenagers walk along a perfect beach in the anticipation of a first kiss. Time stops for nothing – not even for death. Sometimes time cracks, disrupting a fragile equilibrium. The stories are peopled with locals and incomers, sailors and land dwellers; a diver searches the deep for what she has lost, and forbidden lovers meet in secret places. Throughout, the writers’ words reveal a love of the incomparable Cornish landscape.

This bold and striking new anthology showcases Cornwall’s finest contemporary writers, combining established and new voices.

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2018

About the author

Emma was born and grew up in the far south of Aotearoa New Zealand. She lives in Cornwall.

She is editor of Botanical Short Stories, an anthology of stories about plants and flowers published by The History Press in April 2024. Her books include the short story collections Three Roads and The Lost of Syros, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2015.

Her novella, Travelling in the Dark, won the Hall and Woodhouse DLF Writing Prize 2019. It was long-listed for the Not the Booker Prize 2018 and selected as a Big Issue Summer Read 2018.

She is co-editor of Cornish Short Stories: A Collection of Contemporary Cornish Writing which was shortlisted for a Holyer an Gof Award 2019.

Emma's short stories have won the Sara Park Memorial Short Story Competition 2013, the Society of Authors’ Tom-Gallon Trust Award 2011, and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists’ Theodora Roscoe/Vera Brittain Award 2011. Her work has been published in literary journals in England, New Zealand and Australia.

Reviews

[Eliza Clara Hemming · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous collection of often melancholy stories, invoking the beautiful and sometimes harsh landscapes of Cornwall. This is a sublime anthology!

[Steffi Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this on a trip to Cornwall and ended up loving almost every story in it. A beautifully curated collection that captures the wildness, quiet, and charm of the region without ever leaning too twee. There’s something quietly magical about recognising places you’ve actually been woven into fiction – like stumbling across a memory in someone else’s words. Atmospheric, varied, and genuinely transportive. A gem.

[Mark Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Each writer showcased here brings something surprising. The pieces are well crafted and refined examples of the craft... There's imagery and tone that lingers, and poetics. I'll happily return to this, and one day seek out the reading night in Falmouth.

[Cascade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some 4 star stories (especially between Stone and Sea) and some 2 star (many about grief). My favorite part of this book was reference to places we visited or knew from our travel to Cornwall.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always with these kinda books you have a mix of the good, the bad and the pointless stories!! One or two gems hidden amongst the rest!