Short list
"Born Again" by Shakti Bhatt
"Charles Magezi-Akiiki" by Olesya Mishechkina
"Felipe and the Sea" by Jonathan Attrill
"Jolt" by James Lawless
"Kid in a Well" by Willie Davis
"Mrs Nakamoto Takes a Vacation" by Steve Finbow
"Paradise" by Nicholas Hogg
"The Dead Don't Do That Kind of Thing" by Wes Lee
"Vaselino" by Lee Joans
"Words from a Glass Bubble" by Tobias Williams
Winner
And the winner of the Willesden short story prize 2007, as chosen by Zadie Smith, is "Kid in a Well" by Willie Davis.
Willie Davis is a native of Whitesburg, Kentucky who currently teaches English at The University of Maryland. "Kid in a Well" is a chapter from The Darktown Strut, his recently completed novel about contemporary Appalachian life.
Many thanks to everyone who took part and to formerly famous poet Rockwell "Rocky" Rollins and WH media correspondent Amanda Saxonheart for hazarding their eyesight over the strange fonts submitted. Thanks to Zadie Smith for adjudicating.
Judge's report
"Amongst many high concept competitors, 'Kid in a Well' stood out for me for its relative simplicity, neat characterisation, and laconic, relaxed structure. It's a story genuinely interested in its characters rather than fascinated with its own form, and offers the reader humour over authorial hubris. I really enjoyed it. Congratulations, Willie, and enjoy your mug! I have one and I love it." Zadie Smith
Anthology
The forthcoming anthology "New Short Stories 1" (Pretend Genius, 2007) will feature the winning story together with all but one of the short list and a selection of other stories commended by the editorial team, including (confirmed):
"Alternative Medicine" by Laura Solomon
"Atlantic Drift" by Arthur Allan
"Avoiding the Issue" by Laura Heggie
It will also feature more of the virtuosic series Microworld by 19-year-old Olesya Mishechkina, from which "Charles Magezi-Akiiki" is taken.
Update (Feb '07)
Also including "Dodie's Gift", last year's joint-winner by Vanessa Gebbie
Ed
Syndication: Wreuters / Sphagnum
Showing posts with label Amanda Saxonheart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amanda Saxonheart. Show all posts
Monday, January 08, 2007
Friday, November 24, 2006
Delgado's story now a set text
Cold Goat Eyes
"As we progressed through the story, I had a vague notion as to where it was going, and what it was about, but the finer points of Delgado's work were lost on me amidst a brainful of semantics and teacher techniques. [...] But, as we neared the end, I read a paragraph that picked me up and lifted me out of my 'teacher hat' and stopped me dead..."
Let's hope that Amanda Saxonheart and Rocky Rollins can find more such fine examples for this year's competition.
"As we progressed through the story, I had a vague notion as to where it was going, and what it was about, but the finer points of Delgado's work were lost on me amidst a brainful of semantics and teacher techniques. [...] But, as we neared the end, I read a paragraph that picked me up and lifted me out of my 'teacher hat' and stopped me dead..."
Let's hope that Amanda Saxonheart and Rocky Rollins can find more such fine examples for this year's competition.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Special report
by Amanda Saxonheart, Media Editor
When Gyorgy Petch arrived by coach in London with just one suitcase, a notebook, and no discernible skills, and certainly no tool kit for plumbing jobs, the immigration authorities must have been tempted to advise him to get back on the bus, forget about us, and head back to the Hungarian/Slovakian border.
How amazed they would have been to have followed him into the streets outside Victoria Coach Station and witness the tumultuous scenes there. Word had already got out that Gyorgy was arriving and the streets were packed with families desperate to secure his services. His services? Some mistake surely? What services could Gyorgy Petch possibly offer anyone, least off all the families of north west London who were out in great numbers vying to outbid each other to get Gyorgy to ride home with them. After all, Gyorgy has no degree, no plumbing skills, has never picked a strawberry for financial gain in his life, has never even seen a cockle.
Well, the secret resides in that notebook which Gyorgy takes everywhere. And what is in that thar notebook. Is it gold? Oil? Not quite, but not so far off the mark either. Why, you cry, what then is in this magical notebook? Poems of course. Hundreds of them. Sonnets, sestinas, rhyming couplets, comic quatrains about the accession of Eastern European countries to the European Union. Page after page of black ink gold.
Poets, for all those who have been on Mars for the last five years, are BIG, and they are in demand, and though the world is full of them and even fuller of their verses it is undeniable that demand is outstripping supply. In a recent survey over seventy three per cent of households on Hampstead Garden Suburb were found to employ at least one poet. At least?! Yes, at least. You read it right. A staggering seventeen per cent of households on the Suburb now employ two or more poets.
Said Father Thomas McGuinness, waiting at Victoria and hoping to snaffle Gyorgy as poet-in-residence for St Edmund's in Finchley Central..."We hope that Gyorgy will look upon our offer favourably. He will have a five year contract, five weeks holiday, a non-contributory pension scheme and...
Cont'd page 9
When Gyorgy Petch arrived by coach in London with just one suitcase, a notebook, and no discernible skills, and certainly no tool kit for plumbing jobs, the immigration authorities must have been tempted to advise him to get back on the bus, forget about us, and head back to the Hungarian/Slovakian border.
How amazed they would have been to have followed him into the streets outside Victoria Coach Station and witness the tumultuous scenes there. Word had already got out that Gyorgy was arriving and the streets were packed with families desperate to secure his services. His services? Some mistake surely? What services could Gyorgy Petch possibly offer anyone, least off all the families of north west London who were out in great numbers vying to outbid each other to get Gyorgy to ride home with them. After all, Gyorgy has no degree, no plumbing skills, has never picked a strawberry for financial gain in his life, has never even seen a cockle.
Well, the secret resides in that notebook which Gyorgy takes everywhere. And what is in that thar notebook. Is it gold? Oil? Not quite, but not so far off the mark either. Why, you cry, what then is in this magical notebook? Poems of course. Hundreds of them. Sonnets, sestinas, rhyming couplets, comic quatrains about the accession of Eastern European countries to the European Union. Page after page of black ink gold.
Poets, for all those who have been on Mars for the last five years, are BIG, and they are in demand, and though the world is full of them and even fuller of their verses it is undeniable that demand is outstripping supply. In a recent survey over seventy three per cent of households on Hampstead Garden Suburb were found to employ at least one poet. At least?! Yes, at least. You read it right. A staggering seventeen per cent of households on the Suburb now employ two or more poets.
Said Father Thomas McGuinness, waiting at Victoria and hoping to snaffle Gyorgy as poet-in-residence for St Edmund's in Finchley Central..."We hope that Gyorgy will look upon our offer favourably. He will have a five year contract, five weeks holiday, a non-contributory pension scheme and...
Cont'd page 9
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
News in Brief
Tripping The Light Fantastic!!
Willesden's own Cyril Ningbassa, whose dancing was once complimented as being like 'a man possessed dancing on hot coals' will be going to Memphis after all.
Cyril's trip to compete in the Michael Jackson Lookalike-A-Thon next month was thrown into doubt when his sponsors, JB Nylons of Willesden, went bankrupt. Today the Herald has learnt that a mystery benefactor has stepped forward to underwrite the cost of the trip.
Cyril is highly fancied to bring home the crown and everyone at The Willesden Herald has their fingers crossed for him.
Go Cyril! Go Cyril! Go Cyril! Go!!
(Story: Amanda Saxonheart)
___________
Fahrenheit 451 (or the smell of books cooking)
The saga of JB Nylons of Willesden continues. The shop has now ceased trading and the warehouse employing seven local people has closed. An investigation into accounting practices is in train and the accountant retained by the company is barred from practising accountancy until the investigation into his business affairs is concluded. The court ordered that he should not be named.
(Story: Amanda Saxonheart)
Willesden's own Cyril Ningbassa, whose dancing was once complimented as being like 'a man possessed dancing on hot coals' will be going to Memphis after all.
Cyril's trip to compete in the Michael Jackson Lookalike-A-Thon next month was thrown into doubt when his sponsors, JB Nylons of Willesden, went bankrupt. Today the Herald has learnt that a mystery benefactor has stepped forward to underwrite the cost of the trip.
Cyril is highly fancied to bring home the crown and everyone at The Willesden Herald has their fingers crossed for him.
Go Cyril! Go Cyril! Go Cyril! Go!!
(Story: Amanda Saxonheart)
___________
Fahrenheit 451 (or the smell of books cooking)
The saga of JB Nylons of Willesden continues. The shop has now ceased trading and the warehouse employing seven local people has closed. An investigation into accounting practices is in train and the accountant retained by the company is barred from practising accountancy until the investigation into his business affairs is concluded. The court ordered that he should not be named.
(Story: Amanda Saxonheart)
Monday, May 12, 2003
Out and about / Sightings
Spotted! Alighting from a 260 bus arriving from Golders Green on its way to Shepherds Bush, international football agent Eric Bruxman. Could he have been here to check up on the progress of Willesden's very own Marco Fantoni who has been linked lately with Rushden and Irthlingborough Diamonds? Or was he just stopping off for a bite to eat at one of our renowned eateries?
Double take! Willesden Green's favourite son Cyril Ningbassa, the London and South-East king of Michael Jackson impersonators, hopes to meet his hero at the Michael Jackson Look-a-like-athon later this year in Memphis. Cyril's trip is to be sponsored by JB Nylons of Willesden. The best of luck to him from all here at the Herald.
Too many cooks spoil the broth(-el)! A 36 year old woman was arrested on suspicion of running a brothel when police raided an address in Cricklewood Boulevard. Present in the house when it was raided were 3 cooks from the nearby Patrick's Pies meat processing and pie preparation centre.
Overheard! As news about an alleged brothel operating in the area filtered out a local wag was heard to comment that too many cocks spoil the brothel. [That's enough vulgarity - Ed.]
Cheeted (sic)! The animal thought to be a cheetah which has been terrorising the cats and dogs in the local area for the last month was apprehended in a raid on a house in Willesden by local animal welfare officers. The officers used a stun gun and the creature was found to be a Staffordshire Bull Terrier onto which someone had zipped a cheetah costume. A local man was taken into custody and was later released on police bail. The raid followed a tip off.
Welcome! The Willesden Herald Out And About/Sightings team welcomes Amanda Saxonheart on board. Amanda has joined us from the Hendon and Colindale Free Advertiser where she covered showbiz sightings and Births, Weddings and Obituaries.
And finally...! Do you have knobbly knees? If so the organisers of this year's carnival want to hear from you. An attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the most entrants in a knobbly knee contest is in their sights. Mr C McNulty, event organiser, said this when the Herald spoke to him earlier this week "Let's put Willesden Green on the knobbly knee map of Great Britain." The event is in aid of our very own Tiddlers Appeal and will raise funds for the local Tiddlers group to renovate their hall.
Rocky Rollins
Spotted! Alighting from a 260 bus arriving from Golders Green on its way to Shepherds Bush, international football agent Eric Bruxman. Could he have been here to check up on the progress of Willesden's very own Marco Fantoni who has been linked lately with Rushden and Irthlingborough Diamonds? Or was he just stopping off for a bite to eat at one of our renowned eateries?
Double take! Willesden Green's favourite son Cyril Ningbassa, the London and South-East king of Michael Jackson impersonators, hopes to meet his hero at the Michael Jackson Look-a-like-athon later this year in Memphis. Cyril's trip is to be sponsored by JB Nylons of Willesden. The best of luck to him from all here at the Herald.
Too many cooks spoil the broth(-el)! A 36 year old woman was arrested on suspicion of running a brothel when police raided an address in Cricklewood Boulevard. Present in the house when it was raided were 3 cooks from the nearby Patrick's Pies meat processing and pie preparation centre.
Overheard! As news about an alleged brothel operating in the area filtered out a local wag was heard to comment that too many cocks spoil the brothel. [That's enough vulgarity - Ed.]
Cheeted (sic)! The animal thought to be a cheetah which has been terrorising the cats and dogs in the local area for the last month was apprehended in a raid on a house in Willesden by local animal welfare officers. The officers used a stun gun and the creature was found to be a Staffordshire Bull Terrier onto which someone had zipped a cheetah costume. A local man was taken into custody and was later released on police bail. The raid followed a tip off.
Welcome! The Willesden Herald Out And About/Sightings team welcomes Amanda Saxonheart on board. Amanda has joined us from the Hendon and Colindale Free Advertiser where she covered showbiz sightings and Births, Weddings and Obituaries.
And finally...! Do you have knobbly knees? If so the organisers of this year's carnival want to hear from you. An attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the most entrants in a knobbly knee contest is in their sights. Mr C McNulty, event organiser, said this when the Herald spoke to him earlier this week "Let's put Willesden Green on the knobbly knee map of Great Britain." The event is in aid of our very own Tiddlers Appeal and will raise funds for the local Tiddlers group to renovate their hall.
Rocky Rollins
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