{related_entries id="evnt_auth_1"} {/related_entries}, {related_entries id="evnt_auth_2"} {/related_entries} , {related_entries id="evnt_auth_3"} {/related_entries} and {related_entries id="evnt_auth_4"} {/related_entries}

The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the richest prize for a single short story in the world, is being presented at a gala dinner at this year’s Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, with £30,000 going to the winner.

But what goes to make a successful short story? What are the do’s and, more importantly, the don’ts of successful short story writing? What can we learn from some of the great short stories in literature? And what do the six shortlisted titles on this year’s Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award have to tell us about the art of the short story, and about current trends?

Alison MacLeod – novelist, short story writer, Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester and a teacher of creative writing – considers the ways in which some of the best short stories take life on the page, and talks to three of this year’s judges on the award – author of 17 highly acclaimed and bestselling novels Joanna Trollope, multi-award-winning novelist Lionel Shriver (We Need to Talk about Kevin), and Sunday Times literary editor Andrew Holgate – about what they look for in short story writing.

In association with the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.