
This anthology showcases the very best in humorous short story writing, by outstanding contemporary women writers, including Kathy Lette, Sadia Azmat, Lucy Vine, Josie Long, Paula Lennon, and many more. It includes the winning and shortlisted stories from the Comedy Women in Print Short Story Prize. From tales of a narcoleptic biscuit lover, con artists with a twist, and the accidental death of a hamster; to consequences of accidental gluing, the imagined world of extreme shopping, and the delightfully surreal world of canine dating, these 15 boldly imaginative stories range across a multitude of genres and themes. Each proves the power of the short story to disarm, tickle or simply entertain.
Authors


Clare Shaw began by writing Parenting Books, including Help Your Child Be Confident and Talking and Your Child - published by Hodder. Her first novel, The Mother and Daughter Diaries was published by Mira and then Clare became a playwright. She has had plays performed at venues such as The Pleasance, The Cockpit and New Wimbledon Theatre. Her new book - SAGEISM - is published in June 2015 by Indigo Dreams. It's a funny and poignant book packed with information, research and humour to help middle aged and older women cope with all that life throws at them. It's feminism for the over forties and it's uplifting, funny and informative. Clare lives in Essex with John and has two daughters - Emma and Jessica

Kathryn Simmonds’ poetry collection Sunday at the Skin Launderette won the Forward Prize for best first collection in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award and longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. Her short stories have been published in a number of magazines, including The London Magazine and The Barcelona Review, and broadcast on Radio 4. Her second poetry collection is The Visitations (2013) and she was the first poet-in-residence at The Charles Causley Trust in 2013/14. Seren published her first novel Love and Fallout in 2014.

Kathy Lette divides her time between being a full time writer, demented mother (now there's a tautology) and trying to find a shopping trolley that doesn't have a clubbed wheel. Kathy first achieved succés de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, now a major motion picture. After several years as a singer with the Salami Sisters and a newspaper columnist in Sydney and New York (collected in the book "Hit and Ms") and as a television sitcom writer for Columbia Pictures in Los Angeles, her novels, "Puberty Blues" (1979) "Girls Night Out" (1988), "The Llama Parlour" (1991), "Foetal Attraction" (1993), "Mad Cows" (1996),"Altar Ego" (1998) "Nip'N'Tuck" (2001), "Dead Sexy" (2003) and "How To Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints)" (2006) became international best-sellers. Kathy Lette's plays include "Grommits", "Wet Dreams", "Perfect Mismatch" and "I'm So Happy For You I Really Am". She lives in London with her husband and two children and has just finished a stint as writer in Residence at London's Savoy Hotel. Kathy says that the best thing about being a writer is that you get to work in your jammies all day, drink heavily on the job and have affairs and call it research! (Although her husband says he should have the affair as it would give her a better book!)