Thanks, Jarvis

Jon recently revealed one of his heroes in The Guardian. You can find out who it is here (if the rather large clue in the title hasn’t already given it away).

Just a few days after the publication of Jon’s new book, it has been reviewed by, amongst others, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Sunday Express (where the title of this post is taken from). You can read them here (or see a rather handy round up of the main reviews from The Omnivore here).

Right now, Jon is heading to London for two special events – a reading of his first ever published short story, followed by a reading alongside Alex Preston, Geoff Dyer, Lucy Caldwell, and Jane Harris. If you hurry you can still make it. More details here.

Published on 2 February by Bloomsbury, Jon’s new book, This Isn’t The Sort of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You, has been reviewed by The Observer, The Independent and The Daily Mail, amongst others – and has been long listed for the London Book Award 2012. You can read the reviews here…

Jon McGregor has a story in the December 2011 issue of Prospect Magazine. Keeping Watch Over The Sheep is a story about a man trying to attend his daughter’s first nativity play, and failing. It’s taken from Jon’s new collection, This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You, which will be published by Bloomsbury in February 2012.  The first paragraph of the story, with a rather nice illustration, is here. You’ll need to buy the actual magazine to read the rest. Which is well worth doing.

Did you know that Jon’s opened a little side business? Yes: as part of the run-up to his new book (This Isn’t the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You), he commissioned the design and printing of some broadsides featuring his story “That Colour”, and the design, printing, and binding of some chapbooks featuring several stories.

The edition of broadsides is 100, but only around 30 are being sold; the edition of chapbooks is the same, with only around ten for sale. If you’re looking for a special present, what about one of these?

Jon’s got a new story in the Manchester Review, and you can read it for free online here. Pretty nice, eh?

Jon’s been long-listed (or should that be extremely-long-listed?!) for an IMPAC literary award! Long (long, long) list here. Details about the award here.

The National Short Story Award Anthology is now available! Jon’s story, “Wires”, which took second place, is included–along with four others which we’re sure are also pretty good. Just click here to order it directly from Comma Press.

Jon McGregor has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, for his story ‘Wires’ (which will be included in the forthcoming collection, ‘This Isn’t The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You’). The story will be broadcast on Radio 4 this Wednesday, and the winner announced on September 26th. (Some of you may recall that Jon was also shortlisted for the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award. But he wouldn’t want to brag about that.)