Stephen Fry | Pin Drop

04 September 2020

We are thrilled to announce the publication of the paperback of A Short Affair with new stories, new illustrations and a stunning new cover.

This vibrant collection brings together twenty original short stories by giants of the form alongside exciting new voices. The paperback edition also includes two original stories by actor, podcaster and writer Russell Tovey, and Booker nominee Sophie Ward.

As curator and editor of A Short Affair, Simon Oldfield combines the best in short fiction and contemporary art with remarkable illustrations by Tracey Emin and other artists from the Royal Academy of Arts.

Writers: Russell Tovey, Elizabeth Day, Bethan Roberts, Nikesh Shukla, Claire Fuller, Ben Okri, Anne O’Brien, A. L. Kennedy, Anna Stewart, Craig Burnett, Douglas W. Milliken, Will Self, Jarred McGinnis, Barney Walsh, Rebecca F. John, Joanna Campbell, Emily Bullock, Cherise Saywell, Lionel Shriver and Sophie Ward.

Artists: Tracey Emin, Eddie Peake, Kay Harwood, Gabriella Boyd, Jonathan Trayte, Luey Graves, Marco Palmieri, John Robertson, Coco Crampton, Fani Parali, Murray O’Grady, Pio Abad, Declan Jenkins, Mary Ramsden, Carla Busuttil, Jessy Jetpacks, Nick Goss, Tim Ellis, Adam Shield and Humphrey Ocean.

Order your copy now here or from wherever you buy your books:

Waterstones | Foyles | Amazon

03 April 2019

A Short Affair, Pindrop’s debut anthology of original short fiction is now out in hardback.

This vibrant collection brings together twenty original short stories by giants of the form alongside exciting new voices.

Simon Oldfield, curator and editor, combines the best in contemporary short fiction with remarkable illustrations by artists from the Royal Academy of Arts.

Writers: Elizabeth Day, Bethan Roberts, Nikesh Shukla, Claire Fuller, Ben Okri, Anne O’Brien, A. L. Kennedy, Anna Stewart, Craig Burnett, Douglas W. Milliken, Will Self, Jarred McGinnis, Barney Walsh, Rebecca F. John, Joanna Campbell, Emily Bullock, Cherise Saywell and Lionel Shriver .

Artists: Eddie Peake, Kay Harwood, Gabriella Boyd, Jonathan Trayte, Luey Graves, Marco Palmieri, John Robertson, Coco Crampton, Fani Parali, Murray O’Grady, Pio Abad, Declan Jenkins, Mary Ramsden, Carla Busuttil, Jessy Jetpacks, Nick Goss, Tim Ellis, Adam Shield.

Order your copy here or from wherever you buy your books:

Waterstones | Foyles | Amazon

01 September 2018

The Words Podcast | A Short Affair

Pin Drop Studio was invited to BBC Broadcasting House to contribute to the latest episode of The Words podcast dedicated to art and literature, and following the publication of A Short Affair. Founders Simon Oldfield and Elizabeth Day joined the panel alongside curator of the Royal Academy Schools, Eliza Bonham Carter and legendary broadcaster, Melvyn Bragg, to discuss the relationship between literature and the visual arts, captured across the pages of A Short Affair.

The episode also features Stephen Fry reading from Ms Featherstone and the Beast by Bethan Roberts and Elizabeth Day’s reading of On Heat. Both stories feature in A Short Affair.

Listen to the full episode here. | Read more about A Short Affair here.

27 June 2015

Stephen Fry announces Bethan Roberts as winner of the RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award 2015

Stephen Fry, at a special event at the Royal Academy of Arts, narrated Ms. Featherstone and The Beast by Bethan Roberts, the winner of the inaugural RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award. You can listen to Stephen’s narration here.

Stephen Fry commented: “Pin Drop is a wonderfully innovative scheme that unites the written arts with the visual. In iconic venues like the Royal Academy, new and established writers have their works read, discussed and questioned by enthusiastic audiences. The presence of the written word in public spaces filled with visual art reminds writers, whose work is so often private and inward, of the capacity of literature to reach out, uniting it with the family of all the arts where it belongs. I really believe in Pin Drop and felt immensely rewarded to be involved.”

The quality of the entries of this year’s award was high and varied and included a cast of wonderful characters from life models to lion tamers. Returning a shortlist of exceptional quality, the judges selected six stories which each do what a good short story should do: invites us into their world, engages from the first sentence and ends up telling us something about ourselves. In such a competitive field, we needed a truly exceptional winner and our choice was unanimous. Bethan Robert’s evocative story Ms. Featherstone and The Beast, is both tender and poignant. It deals with big themes – love, war and loss of innocence – with a restrained lightness of touch. And, like all the best short stories, its impact lingered and continues to do so.

Bethan’s first novel The Pools was published in 2007 and won a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers’ Award. Her second novel The Good Plain Cook, published in 2008, was serialized on BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime and was chosen as one of Time Out’s books of the year. My Policeman, the story of a 1950s policeman, his wife, and his male lover, followed in 2012, and was chosen as that year’s City Read for Brighton. Her latest novel is Mother Island. She also writes short fiction (in 2006 she was awarded the Olive Cook short story prize by the Society of Authors), and drama for BBC Radio 4. She lives in Brighton with her family.

The judging panel included Pin Drop co-founders Simon Oldfield and Elizabeth Day, and the Royal Academy’s Director of Artistic Programmes, Tim Marlow.

18 June 2015

Shortlist Announced for the RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award 2015

Earlier this year, we launched a special literature award offering a platform for emerging and established writers to showcase their short stories, in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts. Stephen Fry will announce and read the winning short story, which will be recorded live and included in Pin Drop’s audio archive of narrations by acclaimed authors and actors including Lionel Shriver, Graham Swift, Sebastian Faulks and William Boyd. The shortlisted authors are:

Wendy Brandmark, The Other Room

Sarah Evans, Iron and Blood

Virginia Harris, The Inspector

C. Kozinski, Kevlar

Bethan Roberts, Ms. Featherstone and The Beast

Miriam Kate Robinson, Call Ladies