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PODCAST

A Small, Good Thing

A Small, Good Thing

"A Small, Good Thing" is a podcast about short fiction. In every episode, I get to discuss the short story form with writers, academics, publishers, and anyone who shares a passion for short stories.

arts books

All Episodes

31:51

Like Old Photographs in Second-hand Books (With...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/11/13

Nicholas Royle is a short story writer, a novel writer, the editor of the Best British Short Stories series. In this episode, I get to chat with him about his latest collection of short stories, Paris Fantastique (Confingo), and about his passion for second-hand books. Nicholas is also the founder of Nighjar Press, which publishes individual short stories as limited-edition chapbooks. Listen to find out more!Works mentioned:Nicholas Royle, Paris Fantastique (Confingo Publishing, 2025). Nicholas

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30:43

William Saroyan: Life at Full Volume (with Scott...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/10/23

Scott Setrakian is the president of the William Saroyan Foundation. At the time we recorded this interview, he had just come back from Armenia, where he had taken part in a seven-day event called Saroyan Days. In this episode, he tells me about the life and works of Armenian American short story writer William Saroyan. Saroyan’s is a story of determination, perseverance, Pulitzer Prices, Academy Awards, and (above all) of superb writing! Work mentioned: William Saroyan, The Daring Young Man on the

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30:05

More Facts and Fiction of Short Story Writing (with...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/10/02

Ailsa Cox is a professor Emerita at Edge Hill University (UK) and a short story writer. In this second part of the interview we discuss famous pieces of short story writing advice like “show don’t tell”, the Freitag pyramid, ending with a moment of insight and much more! Listen to find out what is a fact and what is fiction! Works mentioned: Sarah Hall, ‘Sarah Hall on why we should have a short story laureate’, Guardian, Oct. 11 2013,

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30:54

The Facts and Fiction of Short Story Writing (with...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/09/11

Ailsa Cox is a Professor Emerita at Edge Hill University (UK) and a short story writer. In this first part of the interview, we discuss famous claims about short stories and short story writing, like reading short stories in one sitting, the connection between short stories and poetic language, and much more. Listen to find out if they are facts or fiction! Works cited: Ailsa Cox, Writing Short Stories. Third Edition (Routledge, 2025). Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Philosophy of Composition’, in Essays and

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32:12

The Culture and Commerce of the American Short Story...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/08/21

Andrew Levy is professor of English and Creative Writing and the Edna Cooper Chair of English at Butler University in Indiana (USA). In this episode, I get to ask him a few questions about his book The Culture and Commerce of the American Short Story (Cambridge UP, 1992), a real watershed in short story criticism.Works referenced (in order of appearance) Andrew Levy, The Culture and Commerce of the American Short Story (Cambridge University Press, 1992). Edgar Allan Poe, ‘Nathaniel Hawthorne’, in

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28:04

Short Fiction and Knowledge for Living (with Michael...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/07/31

How does the short story form contribute to our understanding of life and the world? To find out, listen to this episode of the podcast, in which I get to interview prof. Michael Basseler, from Justus-Liebig University, author of the monograph An Organon of Life Knowledge: Genres and Functions of the Short Story in North America.Works cited:Michael Basseler, An Organon of Life Knowledge: Genres and Functions of the Short Story in North America (Transcript Verlag, 2019).Ottomar Ette, ‘Literature as

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30:17

Failed Summer Vacation (with the author, Heuijung Hur)

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/07/10

In this episode I get to interview Heuijung Hur on her collection Failed Summer Vacation, which has recently been published in English by Scratchbooks. Listen to Heuijung talk about her favourite stories in the collection and what it feels like to read her own work in translation.Works cited:Heuijung Hur, Failed Summer Vacation, trans. by Paige Aniya Morris (Scratchbooks, 2025).George Saunders, Tenth of December (Bloomsbury, 2013).Han Yujoo, The Impossible Fairy Tale, trans. by Janet Hong (Graywolf

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30:31

Contact Zones (with Michael Collins)

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/06/26

Michael Collins is Reader in American Studies at King’s College, London and co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to the American Short Story (2024). In this episode, I ask him why the short story is at once so popular in the US and at the same time relatively underrepresented in academic research. Works cited:Michael J. Collins, The Drama of the American Short Story, 1800-1865 (University of Michigan Press, 2016).Michael J. Collins, “Introduction”, in The Cambridge Companion to the American Short

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31:34

[Part Two] Lucia Berlin: Laundromats and Missing...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/06/12

In this two-part episode, I have the privilege of chatting about Lucia Berlin’s short fiction with writer (and Lucia Berlin’s personal friend) Elizabeth Geoghegan. In the first part, Elizabeth tells me how she met Lucia Berlin and what kind of teacher she was; we also discuss the story “Angel’s Laundromat”. In the second part of the episode, I ask Elizabeth about the stories “A Manual for Cleaning Women,” “So Long,” and “Carmen”. A very special thank you to David Berlin and the Lucia Berlin Estate

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30:05

Lucia Berlin: Laundromats and Missing Puzzle Pieces...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/05/29

In this two-part episode, I have the privilege of chatting about Lucia Berlin’s short fiction with writer (and Lucia Berlin’s personal friend) Elizabeth Geoghegan. In the first part, Elizabeth tells me how she met Lucia Berlin and what kind of teacher she was; we also discuss the story “Angel’s Laundromat”. In the second part of the episode, I ask Elizabeth about the stories “A Manual for Cleaning Women,” “So Long,” and “Carmen”. A very special thank you to David Berlin and the Lucia Berlin Estate

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30:18

Flannery at the Grammys: Flannery O'Connor and...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/05/15

In this episode, Prof. Irwin Streight (Royal Military College of Canada) discusses the unexpected legacy of short story writer Flannery O'Connor on popular singers and songwriters such as Bruce Springsteen, U2, Lucinda Williams, and Nick Cave.Works mentioned (in order of appearance): Lucinda Williams, “Get Right With God”, from Essence (Lost Highway, 2001). Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, dir. by Andrew Douglas (UK, USA, 2003). Borat, dir. by Larry Charles (USA, 2006). Irwin Streight, Flannery

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30:22

Cat Scratches and DeLoreans: On Publishing Short...

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/05/01

Meet Tom Conaghan, founder of Scratch Books! In this episode, I ask Tom what it takes and what it's like to run a publisher entirely dedicated to short fiction. Find out more about the origins of Scratch Books, their amazing publications and short story competition!Works cited (in order of appearance):John Cheever, “Reunion”, in A Vision of the World: Selected Stories, ed. by Julian Barnes (Vintage, 2021), pp. 199-203. Reverse Engineering, ed. by Tom Conaghan (Scratch Books, 2022). Reverse

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0:41

Introducing "A Small, Good Thing"

A Small, Good Thing ·

2025/04/29

Intro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. The shooting of Dan McGrew. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .

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