The Lonely Voice

Frank O’Connor was one of the twentieth century’s greatest short story writers, and one of Ireland’s greatest authors. Lilliput Press are now delighted to continue our publishing of O’Connor’s writing by bringing his seminal work on the art of the short story back into print.

The Lonely Voice is the definitive work of Irish non-fiction on the art of writing short fiction, and has long been held up as one of the greatest works in global literature on the short form. We are delighted to bring The Lonely Voice back into print with a brand new introduction by Kevin Barry, internationally recognized as one of Ireland’s greatest short story writers, whose work - like O’Connor’s before him - appears frequently in the New Yorker. Barry engages with O’Connor’s writing, bringing about a meeting of great Irish short story writers from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and bringing this foundational piece of Irish writing to a new generation.

The ideal companion to works such as George Saunders A Swim in a Pond in the Rain or John Yorke’s Into the Woods: How Stories Work and Why we Tell Them.

Frank O’Connor (1903-1966) was one of Ireland’s greatest ever short story writers, and is the author of such works as Guests of the Nation, My Oedipus Complex and First Confession and numerous other world-renowned stories.

Kevin Barry is the author of four novels and three story collections. His awards include the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and the Lannan Foundation Literary Award. His stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta and elsewhere. His novel, Night Boat to Tangier was longlisted for the Booker Prize and named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times. His new novel The Heart in Winter published in 2024.