Short Fiction Snack Club
Together with a line-up of writers curated by Short Fiction literary journal, we journey through food into fictional worlds and tightly spun narratives.
The writers read and perform their works of short fiction over a tasting of snacks and sweets for audiences to enjoy in an event in collaboration with Short Fiction literary journal.
Launched in 2006, the journal publishes short stories from around the world by both new and established authors. Each story is accompanied by an original, commissioned illustration.
The journal has previously published work by writers including Helen Oyeyemi, Kit de Waal and Marina Warner, and the Short Fiction/University of Essex International Short Story Prize attracts hundreds of entries from around the world each year.
This event is chaired by Short Fiction editor James Young. A writer and translator from Northern Ireland, his own short fiction has appeared in a number of literary journals and been shortlisted for the Bath, Wasafiri, Fish and Seán Ó Faoláin prizes. He won the 2022 Peirene Stevns Translation Prize, and his translation of O amor dos homens avulsos by Victor Heringer will be published next year. He is the founder of The Hastings Writers Workshop.
Artist bios
Ethel Maqeda is a Zimbabwean British writer and theatre facilitator who foregrounds unheard narratives. Her work draws on African women’s experiences, at home and in the diaspora, and explores issues of home, Black womanhood, African women’s struggles, and triumphs over experiences of patriarchal repression, racism, colonialism and global exploitation. Her writing has appeared in multiple journals and anthologies, and her short story collection Mushrooms for my Mother and Other Stories was shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize. She is working on a book exploring Southern African women’s practice of Ubuntu in the diaspora.
Phoebe T (she/her) is from south London. Her work has appeared in publications including Best Small Fictions 2021, Litro Online, IFLA!, Brixton Review of Books, Lunate and Flash Fiction magazine. In 2020 she completed the Goldsmiths MA in Creative & Life Writing through the Isaac Arthur Green Scholarship.
Trahearne Falvey writes about precarity, futurity and, increasingly, transcendence (despite being a thoroughly lapsed Catholic). His fiction and criticism have appeared in journals including Lunate, Necessary Fiction and 3AM Magazine, and he was the winner of the 2020 Aurora Prize for Writing.
Honor Gareth Gavin’s work moves between fiction, theory, and forms of creative criticism. Midland: A Novel Out of Time was shortlisted for the 2015 Gordon Burn Prize. 'Home Death' was longlisted for the 2019/20 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. A recent essay on transmasculinity and femininity, ‘The Girl I Left Behind Me’, takes its title from a Muriel Spark ghost story and is collected in Queer Life, Queer Love. He currently teaches in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester.
Jon Stapley is a writer, editor and photographer who writes short stories that take their time to reveal themselves, and peppers his work with influences taken from music, film, art, games and more. His first published work appeared in Short Fiction this year, and he was runner-up in the Short Fiction/University of Essex International Short Story Prize 2022.
Need to know
Please note that we can't cater to individual dietary requirements, but all snacks are suitable for vegetarians. Allergen information is available to view on the day.
Dates & times
Price
- Standard entryFree, but ticketed
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Venue
Queen Elizabeth Hall
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The Queen Elizabeth Hall is open 90 minutes before events
Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.
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More information
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Toilets
An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.
A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.
The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. Please visit the Welcome Desk on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, where a member of staff can provide you with the key. You can also use the phone next to the Changing Places toilet to speak to a member of staff. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.
Cloakroom
The Queen Elizabeth Hall cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the Queen Elizabeth Hall, so please leave large bags at home.
We're cash-free
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For step-free access from the Queen Elizabeth Hall Slip Road off Belvedere Road to the Queen Elizabeth Hall auditorium seating (excluding rows A to C) and wheelchair spaces in the Rear Stalls, plus Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer and the Purcell Room, please use the Queen Elizabeth Hall main entrance.
To reach this entrance, enter the Royal Festival Hall via the Southbank Centre Square Doors. Take the JCB Glass Lift to Level 2 and exit to the Riverside Terrace. Turn right to find the Queen Elizabeth Hall main entrance.
You can also use the external lift near the Artists' Entrance on Southbank Centre Square to reach Mandela Walk, Level 2.
For access to the Queen Elizabeth Hall auditorium seating rows A to C and wheelchair spaces in the Front Stalls, please enter via the Artists' Entrance in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Slip Road (Level 1).
Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.
Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.
From a snack with coffee to cocktails and fine dining, plus some of London's best street food – it's all here on the Southbank Centre site.