Pin Drop Studio

Last updated
Pin Drop Studio
IndustryArts & Entertainment
Founded2012
FounderSimon Oldfield & Elizabeth Day
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsBooks, podcasts, live events and adaptation
BrandsPin Drop Productions, Pin Drop Podcasts, A Short Affair, Pin Drop Live

Pin Drop Studio is an arts and entertainment studio founded in 2012 by Simon Oldfield and Elizabeth Day, with a particular focus on short fiction. [1] [2]

Contents

Pin Drop Studio publishes short fiction, stages an annual short story award for new writing in association with the Royal Academy of Arts, has a podcast series and hosts live events in major cities around the globe with authors, actors, artists, cultural commentators and original thinkers. [3] [4]

Pin Drop Productions commissions original fiction from new and established writers.

Books

A Short Affair is an anthology of original short fiction from Pin Drop Studio, published in hard-back in July 2018 by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and edited by Simon Oldfield. The book contains eighteen original short stories by best-selling authors alongside new writers from the annual Pin Drop Short Story Award, with a foreword by Tim Marlow. The cover design is by White Cube artist Eddie Peake, and each story is accompanied by a unique contemporary artwork, created by artists from the Royal Academy Schools. [5]

A sequel to A Short Affair is in development. [6]

Pin Drop Short Story Award

Actor, Gwendoline Christie, reading the 2018 winning story from the Pin Drop Short Story Award at the Royal Academy Pin Drop Short Story Award 2018.jpg
Actor, Gwendoline Christie, reading the 2018 winning story from the Pin Drop Short Story Award at the Royal Academy

The Pin Drop Short Story Award is an annual writing prize for new original short stories. It is a free-to-enter, non-commercial, open-submission competition for both published and unpublished writers, and receives over 500 entries each year from writers across the globe. Regular judges of the award include the artistic director of the Royal Academy, Tim Marlow, along with the Pin Drop founders, Simon Oldfield and Elizabeth Day. [7]

The winning story is presented each year at a ceremony at the Royal Academy, where it is read in full to a live audience by a notable actor.

Previous award winners:

2015 - author Bethan Roberts won with her short story, "Ms. Featherstone and the Beast", which was read to a live audience by Stephen Fry. [8]

2016 - author Claire Fuller won with her story, "A Quiet Tidy Man", which was read to a live audience by British actress Juliet Stevenson. [9]

2017 - author Cherise Saywell won with her story, "Morelia Spilota", which was read to a live audience by British actress and Downton Abbey star Dame Penelope Wilton. [7]

2018 - author and actress Sophie Ward won with her story, "Sunbed", which was read to a live audience by British actress and Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie. [10]

Pin Drop Podcasts

Pin Drop Podcasts is a series of live audio recordings of original short fiction and interviews with notable authors and actors, made available free of charge. [11]

Short fiction portfolio

Pin Drop Productions holds the rights to a library of original short fiction and regularly commissions writers to produce new stories for publication and for film and TV adaptation. [12]

Pin Drop Live

Pin Drop Studio bookmark given away to fans Pin Drop Studio bookmark .jpg
Pin Drop Studio bookmark given away to fans

Pin Drop Live stages events at venues such as BAFTA, the Royal Academy, Hauser & Wirth Somerset and Soho House in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris and other major cities. Typically an original story is read in its entirety to a live audience by an author, actor, artist or thinker, followed by an interview. [13]

Guest readers have included, Stephen Fry, Ben Okri, [14] Russell Tovey, [15] Juliet Stevenson, Sebastian Faulks, [16] William Boyd, [17] Julian Barnes, [18] Richard Dawkins, [19] Princess Julia, [20] Selma Blair, [21] A.L.Kennedy, [22] Dame Sian Phillips, Dame Eileen Atkins, [23] Dame Penelope Wilton, Tom Rob Smith, Peter Blake, Gwendoline Christie, Will Self, [24] Maura Tierney, Graham Swift, [25] Sue Tilley, [26] Molly Parkin, Tuppence Middleton, David Nicholls, Ed Stoppard, [27] and Curtis Sittenfeld.

Related Research Articles

Short story Work of literature, usually written in narrative prose

A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed in the form of legends, mythic tales, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables and anecdotes in various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed in the early 19th century.

Royal Academy of Arts Art institution in London, United Kingdom

The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.

Ngaio Marsh New Zealand crime writer and theatre director

Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966.

David Bedford English composer and musician

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Kate Mosse English writer

Katharine Mosse is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel Labyrinth, which has been translated into more than 37 languages.

Ben Okri Nigerian writer

Ben Okri is a Nigerian poet and novelist. Okri is considered one of the foremost African authors in the post-modern and post-colonial traditions, and has been compared favourably to authors such as Salman Rushdie and Gabriel García Márquez. In 1991, Okri won the Booker Prize with his novel The Famished Road.

Scott Sigler American writer

Scott Carl Sigler is an American author of science fiction and horror and a podcaster. Scott is the New York Times #1 bestselling author of sixteen novels, six novellas, and dozens of short stories. He is the co-founder of Empty Set Entertainment, which publishes his young adult Galactic Football League series. He lives in San Diego.

<i>Escape Pod</i> (podcast) Science fiction podcast

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Stephen Farthing

Stephen Farthing is an English painter and writer on art history.

Elizabeth Day is an English novelist, journalist and broadcaster. She was a feature writer for The Observer from 2007 to 2016, and currently writes for You magazine. Day has written six books, and is also the host of the podcast How to Fail with Elizabeth Day.

Claire Fuller Prize-winning English novelist, born 1967

Claire Fuller is an English author. She won the 2015 Desmond Elliott Prize for her first novel, Our Endless Numbered Days, the BBC Opening Lines Short Story Competition in 2014, and the Royal Academy & Pin Drop Short Story Award in 2016. Her second novel, Swimming Lessons, was shortlisted for the 2018 Royal Society of Literature Encore Award. Bitter Orange, her third, was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award. Her most recent novel, Unsettled Ground, won the Costa Book Awards Novel Award 2021 and was shortlisted for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction

Melanie Clore was the chairman of the auction house Sotheby's Europe between 2011-2016, and the worldwide co-chairman of Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art department from 2000-2016. In September 2016, Melanie Clore and Henry Wyndham launched an art advisory business, Clore Wyndham Fine Art. She is a Trustee of the Royal Academy Trust and a Trustee of The Clore Duffield Foundation.

<i>The New Yorker Radio Hour</i>

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<i>Uncanny Magazine</i> American sci-fi and fantasy online magazine

Uncanny Magazine is an American science fiction and fantasy online magazine, edited and published by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, based in Urbana, Illinois. Its mascot is a space unicorn.

MaryAnne Victoria Stevens is a British art historian and curator. From 2005 to 2007, she was secretary of the Royal Academy.

Frederick Rudolph Hay

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Alba Arikha French-born writer

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Science fiction podcast Podcast genre

A Science fiction podcast is a podcast belonging to the science fiction genre, which focuses on futuristic and imaginative advances in science and technology while exploring the impact of these imagined innovations. Characters in these stories often encounter scenarios that involve space exploration, extraterrestrials, time travel, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, robots, and human cloning. Despite the focus on fictional settings and time periods, science fiction podcasts regularly contain or reference locations, events, or people from the real world. The intended audience of a science fiction podcast can vary from young children to adults. science fiction podcasts developed out of radio dramas. Science fiction podcasts are a subgenre of fiction podcasts and are distinguished from fantasy podcasts and horror podcasts by the absence of magical or macabre themes, respectively, though these subgenres regularly overlap. Science fiction podcasts have often been adapted into television programs, graphic novels, and comics.

References

  1. Baker, Sam (2014-05-18). "The irresistible rise of the short story, featuring Pin Drop Studio". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  2. "Salon society: highbrow nights out". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  3. "Why should we read short stories?, Monocle Culture with Robert Bound 327 - Radio - featuring Elizabeth Day from Pin Drop Studio". Monocle. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  4. "Pin Drop Studio: An antidote to the dreaded 'reading'". The Globe & Mail. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  5. A Short Affair. 2018-07-12. ISBN   9781471147326.
  6. "A Short Affair and the collaboration between art and literature is discussed by the book's editor Simon Oldfield and contributors Jessy Jetpacks, Ben Okri. The Monocle Weekly - Radio Podcast". Monocle. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  7. 1 2 "Podcast: Dame Penelope Wilton reads the winning story from the 2017 RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award by Cherise Saywell. Plus interview by Tim Marlow and Simon Oldfield". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  8. "Podcast: Stephen Fry reads the winning story of the 2015 RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award by Bethan Roberts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  9. "Fuller wins 2016 Royal Academy & Pin Drop short story prize | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  10. "Actress and author Sophie Ward's 'perfect' short story wins 2018 Pin Drop literary award". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  11. "Pin Drop Studio Podcasts - multiple sources "free"". Listen Notes. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  12. "News | Pin Drop Productions commissions original short fiction for adaptation". Pin Drop. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  13. "Events — Pin Drop at Hauser & Wirth Somerset". www.hauserwirth.com. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  14. "Podcast: Pin Drop with Ben Okri | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  15. "Burberry Hosts Pin Drop - A Live Reading By Russell Tovey At Thomas's". Getty Images. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  16. "Podcast: Pin Drop with Sebastian Faulks. Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  17. "Londoner's Diary: William Boyd & Pin Drop Studio at BAFTA". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  18. "Pin Drop with Julian Barnes. Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  19. "Londoner's Diary: Pin Drop with Richard Dawkins". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  20. "Princess Julia could tell you some stories at Pin Drop Studio". I-d magazine. 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  21. "Selma Blair at Pin Drop, Soho House, Los Angeles". SelmaBlairStyle.com. 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  22. "The Book Show on Irish national broadcaster, RTÉ Radio 1. Sinead Gleeson interviews A.L.Kennedy at a Pin Drop Studio salon. Broadcast on Saturday 15 February 2014". The Book Show. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  23. "Pin Drop: short stories with Siân Phillips and Eileen Atkins | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  24. "Will Self reads The Shore for Pin Drop". Will Self. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  25. "Pin Drop with Graham Swift. Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  26. "Sue Tilley at Pin Drop". Radio Wolfgang. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  27. "Pin Drop with William Boyd and Ed Stoppard. Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-27.