Pond, the first collection of short stories from Galway-based writer Claire-Louise Bennett, is an absorbing chronicle of the pitfalls and pleasures of a solitary life told by an unnamed narrator living on the edge of a coastal town. Bennett pushes the boundaries of the short story into new territory. Part prose fiction, part stream of consciousness, Pond has been compared to Jenny Offill’s acclaimed Dept of Speculation. Hosted in partnership with Fitzcarraldo Editions, an independent publisher specialising in contemporary fiction and long-form essays, this event offers the opportunity to hear from a writer experimenting with narrative and form. Claire-Louise will be interviewed by writer and critic Brian Dillon. Brian Dillon is reader in critical writing at the Royal College of Art, and UK editor of Cabinet magazine. His books include Objects in This Mirror: Essays (Sternberg Press, 2014), Sanctuary (Sternberg Press, 2011), Ruins (MIT Press/Whitechapel Gallery, 2011), Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives(Penguin, 2009) and In the Dark Room (Penguin 2005). His writing appears regularly in the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, Artforum and Frieze.  Copies of Pond will be available to buy in advance of the release date.  Contact events@anthonyburgess.org to book.