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Hello. There is that quote often attributed to the Roman philosopher Cicero,

in which an apology is made to the recipient of a letter, the sender writing,

I'm sorry this letter is so long. If I'd have had the time,

I'd have written a shorter one. Well, today on Open Book, we're keeping it short and sweet,

dancing through 50 years of modern American short stories with Juno Diaz and John Freeman,

while Sunday Time Short Story Awards nominee Jonathan Gibbs talks literary twins.

But first, a collection of poems, notes, essays and short stories by the Ted Hughes Prize

winning poet Holly McNeish. After four collections of a acclaimed poetry, this new work, titled

Slug and Other Things I've Been Told to Hate, continues a trademark taboo-busting, down-to-earth dive into the messiness of real life,

dealing with everything from death to sex, parenthood, the female body, social conditioning and some seriously suspect Halloween costumes.

The result is a bricolage of a book,

playing with styles and themes that cross many genres,

and as the author tells us herself at the beginning,

can be read in many ways.

And Holly McNeish joins me now.

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