The short story flourishes in Ireland. All Irish conditions seem to favour it. With its roots in the fertile soil of the Gaelic folk tradition, it appeared to grow and thrive on the discontinuities of Irish history – the war of independence, civil war, political division.

The first Golden Age was in the middle years of the 20th century; an extraordinary flowering of stories from Elizabeth Bowen, Seán Ó Faoláin, Flann O’Brien, Frank O’Connor, Samuel Beckett, Maeve Brennan, Edna O’Brien (the list could go on) came at a time when Ireland was repressed and inward-looking, dominated by the church and enervated by migration. But when the boom times came in the 1990s, it all happened again. The liberal, globalized, ethnically diverse society of 21st century Ireland is still witnessing a vibrant blossoming of short fiction from Anne Enright, Roddy Doyle, Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Sally Rooney, Kevin Barry, Lucy Caldwell, Yan Ge ….

Such a bumper crop of talent!