The launch of Tania Hershman's new collection

 Just back from a weekend in Bristol where John and I went for the fabulous launch of a new book by my very good writing friend Tania Hershman: My Mother Was an Upright Piano: Fictions, a wonderful collection of 56 flash stories, published by Tangent Books. Loads of us crowded the lovely Arnolfini bookshop to snap up the piles of this beautiful book and hear Tania read a few of the stories.

Tania's writing has a winning surreality, great wit and lyrical rhythm, and combines the vividly particular with the profoundly universal. Plus, she's a pretty brilliant reader. So we were hugely entertained (and moved):

It was great, too, to meet Calum Kerr, National Flash Fiction Day Supremo, and Joe Melia who runs the Bristol Short Story Prize.

We were generously wined and canaped by Tania's publisher, Richard Jones, who in his appreciative introduction spoke of the need to support our independent bookshops. A smashing evening with a great buzz, and I'm really looking forward to reading the book!

Lots more pics on Tania's own blog here.