Adam Marek is the award-winning author of two short story collections: The Stone Thrower and Instruction Manual for Swallowing. He won the 2011 Arts Foundation Short Story Fellowship, and was shortlisted for the inaugural Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. His stories have appeared on BBC Radio 4, and in many magazines and anthologies, including The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. He teaches creative writing regularly for the Arvon Foundation, WordFactory, Comma Press and the creative writing group at Google London. Visit Adam online at adammarek.co.uk and on Twitter at @adammarek

Words Away salon: Miracle in a Matchbox: the Art of the Short Story