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Website: SophieHannah.com
Sophie Hannah writes crime fiction and
poetry. Her psychological thrillers have sold close to 200,000 copies
in the UK alone. Little Face was long listed for the
Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award, and
has been long listed for the IMPAC Award. In 2004 she won first prize
in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her
suspense story The Octopus Nest.
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Short
story collections
Interview
with Sophie Hannah
The
Short Review:
How long did it take you to write all the stories in your collection?
Sophie Hannah: About
a year from start to finish,
apart from the very last one in the book, which I wrote about two
months ago - a late addition!
TSR: Did you
have a collection in mind when you were writing them?
SH: Not
really, although they all sort of came from the same place,
inspiration-wise.
TSR: How did
you choose which stories to include and in what order?
SH: I
included all the ones which, after
I'd left them to settle for a while, still seemed good
enough. I
decided not to publish quite a few - only the ones I was sure of.
TSR: Do you
have a "reader" in mind when you write stories?
SH:
No - only myself. I write what I
would like to read, the stories I wish someone else had written and
think ought to exist!
TSR: Is there
anything you'd like to ask someone who has read your
collection,
anything at all?
SH:
I think I'd be most intrigued to know which story they liked most, which least, and why.
TSR: How does it feel knowing that people are buying your book?
SH:
It's great, but also a bit weird - the idea that people you've never met are reading things that you wrote.
TSR: What are
you working on now?
SH:
My fourth psychological crime novel, which is called The Other Half Lives. It's about a man who confesses to the murder of a woman who is still alive.
TSR: What are
the three most recent short story collections you've read?
SH: Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, Wish I Was Here by Jackie Kay, Piranha to Scurfy by Ruth Rendell
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