Mia Couto Peru Mario Vargas Llosa- Nobel Prize Laureate Philippines Peter Solis Nery "Lirio" (1998) "Candido" (2007) "Donato Bugtot" (2011) "Si Padre Olan kag ang Dios" (2013) Portugal Vergílio Ferreira, Fernando Goncalves Namora Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen José Saramago Manuel da Silva Ramos United Kingdom Daphne du Maurier "The Birds" (1952) "Don't Look Now" (1971) United States Frank O'Connor The Lonely Voice Wallace Stegner John Updike Joyce Carol Oates Sales and profits The numbers of 21st-century short story writers run into the thousands. Female short story writers have gained increased critical attention, with British authors, in particular, exploring modern feminist politics in their writings. Sales of short-story fiction are strong. In the UK, sales jumped 45% in 2017, driven by collections from international names such as Alice Munro, a high number of new writers to the genre, including famous names like actor Tom Hanks (plus those who publish their work using readily accessible, digital tools), and the revival of short story salons such as those held by the short fiction company Pin Drop Studio. More than 690,000 short stories and anthologies were sold in the UK in 2017, generating £5.88 million, the genre's highest sales since 2010. Throughout the 2010s, there was frequent speculation about a potential "renaissance"; Sam Baker called it a "perfect literary form for the 21st century". In 2012, Pin Drop Studio launched what became a regular short story salon, held in London and other major cities. Short story writers who have appeared at the salon to read their work to live audiences include Ben Okri, Lionel Shriver, Elizabeth Day, A.L. Kennedy, William Boyd, Graham Swift, David Nicholls, Will Self, Sebastian Faulks, Julian Barnes, Evie Wylde and Claire Fuller. Canadian short story writers include Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant and Lynn Coady. In 2013, Alice Munro became the first writer of nothing but short stories to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her award-winning short story collections include Dance of the Happy Shades, Lives of Girls and Women, Who Do You Think You Are?, The Progress of Love, The Love of a Good Woman and Runaway. Awards Prominent short story awards such as The Sunday Times Short Story Award, the BBC National Short Story Award, the Royal Society of Literature's V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize, The London Magazine Short Story Prize , the Pin Drop Studio Short Story Award and many others attract hundreds of entries