Short story success for Nathan Englander

The award, which is worth €25,000, has established itself in recent years as the most lucrative and prestigious prize for the short story form, with Englander joining a line up of high-profile winners from previous years which includes Edna O'Brien, Haruki Murakami and Yiyun Li.

Englander’s winning collection has been described as beautiful, courageous, funny and achingly sad, and as pushing the boundaries of the short story form. The judging panel for the award were impressed by the seasoned maturity of the writing, with the Award Director Patrick Cotter saying: ‘I’m delighted this deserving book has emerged from a very strong shortlist’.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank is one of several short story collections to feature in this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival programme. You can see Nathan Englander plus Etgar Keret, Kevin Barry and Sarah Hall, all of whom were shortlisted for this year’s Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, in Charlotte Square Gardens this August.