SHORT STORIES AND THE BEST BOOKS OF 2002
'Tis the season for list-making; collectedstories looks at three top "Best of" book lists and checks them twice for short stories noted as particularly nice... (read more).

GAITSKILL'S SECRETARY HITS BIG SCREEN
Lions Gate released Secretary nationwide in October. The film, based on a short story of the same name by Mary Gaitskill, won a Special Grand Jury Prize for Originality at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Starring James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal, the film, like the story ...(read more).

DEBUT STORY COLLECTION NAMED ON TODAY SHOW
Adam Haslett's debut story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here, was selected as the second installment of the "Today Book Club..." (read more).

2002 REA AWARD FOR SHORT STORY TO MAVIS GALLANT
Canadian born Mavis Gallant has received the 2002 Rea Award for the Short Story. Gallant has penned over a hundred stories...(read more).

REVIEWER PRAISES SHORT STORIES OVER NOVELS IN 2002
In a year-end reflection on books, Geeta Sharma-Jensen wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Dec. 31, 2002 that short stories flourished as novels faded.

HASLETT PICKED AGAIN
Adam Haslett, the author of what could be said to be the most favored debut of 2002 for his story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here, received recognition yet again, with the December 23-30th issue of New York Magazine, wherein he was one of only 11 New Yorkers chosen (and the only choice representing the fiction category) for the 2002 New York Awards that aim to name those who "not only gave their best but also brought out the best in New York. You Are Not a Stranger Here, an early selection of the Today Book Club, was named on many "Best Books" list roundups for the year.

TNT HOLIDAY MOVIE BASED ON KATHERINE PATERSON SHORT STORY
TNT aired an original film, Miss Lettie and Me, on December 8th, 2002 at 8pm (ET), based on a short story by two-time Newberry winner Katherine Paterson's short story "Poor Innocent Lamb," which is collected in her young adult book A Midnight Clear: Family Christmas Stories. TNT has further info online, including a preview trailer.

NEW EDITION OF NOVEL & SHORT STORY WRITER'S MARKET
The ever popular annual Novel & Short Story Writer's Market from Writer's Digest Books, released it's 2003 edition in November 2002. The new edition features over 1,900 places to get fiction in print and provides select author and editor interviews, along with a new section on MFA writing programs.

FIVE FICTION WRITERS RECEIVE WHITING WRITERS' AWARDS
Ten recipients of the 18th annual Whiting Writers' Awards for "emerging writers of exceptional talent and promise" were announced October 30 and include five fiction writers, three poets, and two playwrights, with each receiving a $35,000 award. The five fiction writers are Jeffrey Renard Allen, Justin Cronin, Kim Edwards, Michelle Huneven, and Danzy Senna. Cronin won a PEN/ Hemingway award for his 2001 debut, Mary and O'Neil, a novel of linked stories, while Kim Edwards is the author of the Nelson Algren Award-winning story, "Sky Juice," which was collected in her 1997 debut The Secrets of a Fire King: Stories. The Whiting award was established in 1985 by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation. Last year's winners included short story writers Emily Carter, Matthew Klam, and Samrat Upadhyay.

THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2002 RELEASED
Houghton Mifflin released the 2002 edition of the ever-popular annual anthology of short stories, The Best American Short Stories, in hardback and paperback mid-October. Sue Miller, author of While I Was Gone, served as this year's guest editor for the 20 stories selected from various print publications and remarks in her introduction that the realist story is the current direction in short fiction. The volume features stories from Michael Chabon, Edwidge Danticat, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jill McCorkle, Ann Cummins, and Karl Iagnemma, among others, with eight of the 20 stories hailing from The New Yorker.

NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION SHORTLISTS ADAM HASLETT STORIES
On October 16th the National Book Foundation announced the shortlist for it's annual literary award. The fiction category lists five titles, including Adam Haslett's debut story collection, You Are Not a Stranger Here. Also shortlisted are novelists Mark Costello, Julia Glass, Martha McPhee, and Brad Watson.

F.X.TOOLE DIES FROM HEART SURGERY COMPLICATIONS
F.X. Toole, who received much notoriety at the age of 70 with the publication of his debut collection of short stories, Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner, died on September 12, 2002, in California of complications resulting from heart surgery. He was 72-years-old and had recently completed his first novel.

MADONNA PENS COLLECTION OF CHILDREN'S STORIES
Madonna has written a collection of - get this - moralistic children's stories, in collaboration with filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie. Media Correspondent Louise Jury breaks the news for Britain's The Independent.

O.HENRY PRIZE STORIES 2002 RELEASED
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2002 released August 27, from Anchor Books. Series editor Larry Dark invited Dave Eggers, Joyce Carol Oates, and Colson Whitehead to make the final selections for this year's edition. Kevin Brockmeier - whose story collection, Things That Fall From the Sky, was published by Pantheon this past Spring - was chosen as First Prize winner for "The Ceiling." Second and third prize went to Mark Ray Lewis and Louise Erdrich, respectively. Overall, there are 20 prize stories this year, including "Memento Mori" by Jonathan Nolan, which inspired the film Memento.

MEDIA MUST
The Sept./Oct. 2002 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine included an article by Joanna Smith Rakoff that should be sought by those serious about writing short fiction -- "The Glossies: 8 Fiction Editors Reveal Trade Secrets." There's even a nice spec table of submission stats, payment amounts, etc.

IN THE BEDROOM RELEASED ON DVD AUGUST 13, 2002
The movie In the Bedroom, based on the story "Killings" by Andre Dubus II, released on DVD August 13, 2002. Sissy Spacek won a Golden Globe Award for her role, as well as an Oscar nomination. The 18-page "Killings" is collected in Selected Stories by Andre Dubus.

JAMES IREDELL NAMED FICTION EDITOR OF TERMINUS
James Iredell, author of the short story "Property of the Church," published herein on collectedstories, has been named Fiction Editor of Terminus:A Journal of Literature and Art. This is a national publication in its second year intending to showcase writing that is accessible and reflective of human experience. The first issue featured work from poets Miller Williams, Virgil Suarez, and R.S. Gwynn. Terminus is based in Atlanta where Iredell is a doctoral candidate.

COLLECTEDSTORIES WRITER PUBLISHES DEBUT NOVEL
David Fickett, a writer whose stories "Flotsam" and "Sensible Shoes" have both been published on collectedstories, made his publishing debut in May 2002 under the Forge imprint with the novel Nectar (318 pages). We would like to congratulate him and encourage everyone to buy his family saga that was described as "powerful and poignant" by Booklist.

COLLECTEDSTORIES CO-PUBLISHERS PRODUCE FILM ADAPTATION
Co-Publishers Dara Albanese and Wendy Ball of collectedstories.com have completed production on a short film, Property of the Church, based on a short story of the same name by James Iredell, published in the Winter 2000 issue of collectedstories.com. (read more)