Davy Byrne’s Stories 2014
Sara Baume, Julian Gough, Arja Kajermo, Trevor Byrne, Colm McDermott, Danielle McLaughlin
[The Stinging Fly]
Most books are the outcome of long and painstaking work, and bear the fingerprints of a team of people shaping them into their final state. But the Davy Byrne’s Stories 2014 collection, put together by The Stinging Fly Press in association with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, has had a particularly careful and collaborative gestation. The six stories that make up the book were selected from 600 entries to the Davy Byrne’s Short Story Award. The judges were Anne Enright, Yiyun Li and Jon McGregor, and each story is prefaced by the judges’ and respective author’s comments. The collection is a treat: I almost feel I’ve won a prize by simply having the opportunity to review it.
Solesearcher1, the first story of the collection and the overall winner, is utterly absorbing. The author, Sara Baume [pictured], gently turns the unusual protagonist, Phil, over and over, observing from every angle, and leaves the reader with an intimate knowledge of Phil as well as painfully aware of her loneliness. Trevor Byrne’s Go Down Sunday and Arja Kajermo’s The Iron Age are my other picks, but really every story here is highly imaginative and beautifully written. There is also an enjoyable range between the stories, from rural and urban contemporary Ireland to 1950s Finland, and from childhood to old age and even the end of the world. All in all, Davy Byrnes Stories 2014 is an absolute pleasure.
Words: Anna Grace Scullion
