NEWS
7th July 2012
SMALL WONDER FESTIVAL: THE DOLL
Polly Samson, Anthony Quinn, and Daisy Goodwin discuss Daphne du Maurier’s haunting short story collection ‘The Doll’. Click here to listen.
12th June 2012
THE ARTS GARDEN PARTY OF THE YEAR
Polly will be attending the Voewood Festival at 1pm on Sunday 26th August. Click here for information and tickets.
2nd April 2012
SPANISH EDITION OF ‘OUT OF THE PICTURE’ PUBLISHED
Polly’s novel is now available in Spanish. Click here for more details.
25th November 2011
BOOK AT BEDTIME: PERFECT LIVES
Tonight’s story was ‘Remote Control’.
24th November 2011
BOOK AT BEDTIME: PERFECT LIVES
Tonight’s story was ‘The Rose Before the Vine’.
23rd November 2011
BOOK AT BEDTIME: PERFECT LIVES
Tonight’s story was ‘The Birthday Present’.
22nd November 2011
BOOK AT BEDTIME: PERFECT LIVES
Tonight’s story was ‘Barcarolle’.
21st November 2011
VIRAGO BOOK CLUB LIVE EVENT
Polly will be at the Virago offices on the evening of Tuesday 29th November to talk about ‘Perfect Lives’ with an audience of Book Club members. Click here for more information.
If you’d like to be part of the audience, please sign up to the Virago Book Club for details of how to apply.
21st November 2011
BOOK AT BEDTIME: PERFECT LIVES
Tonight’s story was ‘The Egg’.
17th November 2011
BOOK AT BEDTIME
‘Perfect Lives’ will be the BBC’s Book at Bedtime next week, with five readings taken from Polly’s short story collection. Find out more here.
7th November 2011
THE MAN WHO FELL
Polly’s latest short story is published in today’s Guardian newspaper. Read it here.
29th October 2011
TODAY’S GUARDIAN
The Guardian is giving away a 128-page book, which includes Polly’s ‘The Man Who Fell’ and short stories by Margaret Atwood, Rose Tremain, Audrey Niffenegger, and William Trevor.
16th September 2011
A WEEKEND IN OCTOBER
Polly will be attending the Lancaster Literature Festival at 2pm on Saturday 15th October and, at 12 noon on Sunday 16th, the Cheltenham Literature Festival where she’ll be discussing the short story genre with Judith Hermann.
6th September 2011
SMALL WONDER
Polly will be attending the Charleston Small Wonder Literary Festival (22-25 September) on Saturday 24th September.
26th August 2011
VOEWOOD FESTIVAL
Polly will be in conversation with Damian Barr about families and storytelling this Monday at 3.00pm in the Hire Intelligence Blue Tent.
1st August 2011
POLLY RECOMMENDS ‘THE MAGIC TOYSHOP’
Polly chooses Angela Carter’s ‘The Magic Toyshop’ for Virago’s monthly classic inspiration.
Read about it here.
28th June 2011
THE SHORT REVIEW
This month’s issue features an interview with Polly, which you can read here.
1st June 2011
THE MORNING AFTER
The Daily Telegraph published Polly’s story ‘The Morning After’ on Saturday. You can read it here.
27th May 2011
HAY FESTIVAL & ‘THE MORNING AFTER’
Polly will be talking about ‘Perfect Lives’ at the Hay Festival this Sunday at 5.30pm in the Sky Arts Studio.
The Daily Telegraph, sponsor of the Hay Festival, is running Polly’s story ‘The Morning After’ in the newspaper tomorrow (the morning before!).
20th May 2011
HAUNTED BY ‘THE APPLE TREE’
Polly wrote something about her favourite Daphne du Maurier short story. Click here to read it.
18th May 2011
DAPHNE DU MAURIER FESTIVAL
Polly will be discussing ‘Perfect Lives’ with Professor Helen Taylor from the University of Exeter on Thursday 19th May 2011 at 10.00am.
12th May 2011
READING: SALTDEAN LIBRARY
Polly will be reading from ‘Perfect Lives’ at Saltdean Library on Saturday 14th May from 11am. All are welcome and entry is FREE. Click here for more details.
11th May 2011
PODCAST: eiCLUB HAY FESTIVAL DISCUSSION
Polly was a member of the Opinion Former Panel at today’s ‘The Importance of Books and Writing: An eiClub Hay Festival Discussion’ event hosted by The Hospital Club and chaired by Peter Florence, Director of the Hay Festival.
The eiClub is a ‘connections gym’ run by Editorial Intelligence, ensuring stimulating and time-saving ways to get the best ideas flowing between working professionals.
A FREE podcast of the discussion is available here.
10th May 2011
PERFECT LIVES SHORTLISTED FOR EDGE HILL UNIVERSITY SHORT STORY PRIZE
Polly has been shortlisted for the Edge Hill University Short Story Prize 2011 for ‘Perfect Lives’.
Now in its fifth year, it is the UK’s only literary award that recognises a published collection of short stories. The prize is open to anyone, and the shortlist is a mix of both well-known short story writers and newcomers. Alongside Polly are Graham Mort (Touch), Michele Roberts (Mud: Stories of Sex and Love), Helen Simpson (In-flight Entertainment), and Tom Vowler (The Method and Other Stories).
The winner will be announced at the award ceremony, to be held in London in July.
4th May 2011
WOMAN’S HOUR
Polly was talking about Daphne du Maurier on BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour today. You can listen to the full programme here or forward the player to 34:25 for the feature.
2nd May 2011
BRIGHTON FESTIVAL FRINGE
Polly will be talking about ‘Perfect Lives’ at the Brighton Festival Fringe on Friday 20th May 2011
at 7.00pm.
30th April 2011
WOMAN’S HOUR
Polly will be talking about Daphne du Maurier on BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour on Wednesday 4th May.
6th April 2011
HAY FESTIVAL UPDATE
Polly will be talking about ‘Perfect Lives’ at the Hay Festival in Powys, Wales, on Sunday 29th May 2011 at 5.30pm in the Sky Arts Studio.
18th February 2011
THE BOOKSELLER
Polly has written the introduction to a collection of newly-discovered Daphne du Maurier
stories: The Doll.
20th January 2011
HAY FESTIVAL
Polly Samson will be talking about ‘Perfect Lives’ at the Hay Festival in Powys, Wales. The date for her event will be announced soon.
18th January 2011
PUBLICATION DATE
Polly Samson’s ‘Perfect Lives’ will be available in hardback in the USA and Canada on 1st March. More news and links to follow.
5th January 2011
FEATURED AUTHOR: NEW BOOKS
Polly looks back on the origin of ‘The Egg’ in the current edition of New Books.
25th November 2010
‘TUNE IN’ TO RADIO 3
Polly’s short story ‘Barcarolle’ about a frustrated piano tuner was broadcast this evening on Radio 3, read by Rory Kinnear who is currently playing Hamlet at the National Theatre.
15th November 2010
JOOLS HOLLAND SHOW
Polly was Jools Holland’s guest on Radio 2 today.
5th November 2010
WOMAN’S HOUR
Polly was interviewed today by Jenni Murray on BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour. You can listen to the full programme here or forward the player to 21:07 for the interview.
4th November 2010
PUBLICATION DAY
‘Perfect Lives’ is published today in hardback by Virago.
26th October 2010
IVAN KNOWS
Polly Samson’s story Ivan Knows from ‘Perfect Lives’ is runner-up for the 2010 V.S. Pritchett Prize.
8th October 2010
AESTHETICA INTERVIEW
Polly offers a taster from her new collection, ‘Perfect Lives’, and is interviewed in Issue 37 of art and culture magazine Aesthetica, which is out now.
2nd September 2010
THE ROSE BEFORE THE VINE
A new Polly Samson story will be published in Issue 12 of The International Literary Quarterly.
22nd August 2010
FEATURE INTERVIEW FROM THE BOOKSELLER MAGAZINE
Click here to read the interview by Charlotte Williams.
19th August 2010
THE JUST WHEN STORIES – AVAILABLE IN HARDBACK
Polly’s latest story, ‘The Morning After’, has been published in ‘The Just When Stories’. Click here to buy the hardback.
6th August 2010
PERFECT LIVES PICKED UP BY BOOKSELLERS AS ‘BEST READ’
“A particular pleasure… entirely her own… distinct tone.”
Rodney Troubridge, Waterstone’s
“Less a collection of stories, more of a novel… poignant, surprising and often humorous.”
Ruth Hunter, Bertrams
“Stories pick you up by the scruff of the neck and shake you free from comfy unchallenging fiction. Poignant and funny.”
Patrick Neale, Jaffé and Neale Bookshop and Café
5th August 2010
BOOK JACKET
Here’s the finished jacket. I’m so pleased with it. Thank you Virago. Thank you Charlie for lending a hand. Thank you Chloe Firouzian for taking such a good photograph.
