Conor Kerr's favourite hilariously awkward short story collections
Conor Kerr is a Métis and Ukrainian educator, writer and harvester. A 2022 CBC Books writer to watch, his works include the novels Old Gods and Avenue of Champions, which was longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and Prairie Edge, which was shortlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize. His poem Prairie Ritual was on the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist.
He is a 2025 CBC Short Story Prize judge and says he believes that short stories have a unique power to captivate readers, draw them into multiple different worlds and subvert their expectations.
Kerr joined The Next Chapter to talk about three short story collections that he has really enjoyed.
Death by a Thousand Cuts by Shashi Bhat
Death by a Thousand Cuts traces the funny, honest and difficult parts of womanhood. From a writer whose ex published a book about their breakup to the confession wrought by a Reddit post, these stories probe rage, loneliness, bodily autonomy and these women's relationships with themselves just as much as those around them.
Kerr was drawn to this collection of amusing stories that left him with a sense of second-hand embarrassment for some of the characters.
"In particular, the very first story of this collection, it brings us right into this feeling that you get with the second-hand embarrassment — just that cringiness where you're sitting there and you're thinking, 'I don't know if I should be reading this.' You're watching, you can't look away, but you almost want to look away.
"I think a lot of that is around just the beauty and weirdness of being human, and the dimensions of that experience in this current age. One of the stories is about an ex-boyfriend who writes a novel about a character that similarly represents the protagonist.
I think a lot of that is around just the beauty and weirdness of being human and the dimensions of that experience in this current age.- Conor Kerr
"And then there's one where they get right into the Reddit threads of 'Am I the a-hole?' as well as one about a second date that just goes absolutely haywire from an online dating app.
"And I think it just really, really, really captures that second-hand embarrassment, and that cringiness. But at the same time, the beauty and weirdness of coming together in community in this current context."
Peacocks of Instagram by Deepa Rajagopalan
The collection of stories in Peacocks of Instagram provide a tapestry of the Indian diaspora. Tales of revenge, love, desire and family explore the intense ramifications of privilege, or lack thereof. Coffee shop and hotel housekeeping employees, engineers and children show us all of themselves, flaws and all.
Kerr says he was drawn to this collection because it highlights the stories of characters on the margins.
"Peacocks of Instagram is compelling because, I think, of just these interesting, interesting characters.
I love the way that Deepa [has] built these characters who are existing kind of on the margins — ones who are moving between different worlds and [the] navigation of growing up within that Eastern to Western context.- Conor Kerr
"I love the way that Deepa [has] built these characters who are existing kind-of on the margins — ones who are moving between different worlds, and [the] navigation of growing up within that Eastern to Western context. Characters who aren't necessarily fitting in within the Western constructs of society."
Last Woman by Carleigh Baker
Last Woman is a collection of 13 short stories that explore the "hellscape" world of the contemporary moment through anxious and sometimes otherworldly characters. A group of billionaire aliens observe planet Earth, a snobbish professor looks down upon genre fiction, homes are lost to wildfires and floods. In these ever-present and absurd stories is a greater theme of climate change and our fear of what is to come.
Kerr says the stories in this collection blend cynicism, absurdism and hope.
"This book has a sense of humour — just this sarcastic, sardonic-like humour. And if you ever chat with Carleigh or you get to hear Carleigh talk or read their writing, you can see that just coming out immediately.
"And all of these stories that are in this and — I wouldn't say that the stories are laugh-out-loud. It's more like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe that this is the society that we're living in right now and that this is what passes for acceptable within our culture here.' So there's a bit of a cynical absurdism going on.
It's more this hope that you can find love and humour and community within the relationships that you build.- Conor Kerr
"What I really love about Carleigh's writing as well, is that they blend in hope as well.
"And it's not necessarily hope that every problem's going to be solved — that this world is going to all-of-a-sudden be perfect, that everything is going to be great or anything like that and that these characters are all going to turn out well. But it's more this hope that you can find love and humour and community within the relationships that you build."
Conor Kerr's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
