Announcement: Willesden 2017 Results

Our 2017 judge Lane Ashfeldt says she had a great time reading (and re-reading!) all the shortlisted stories, and choosing the top three was a really tough call. She is delighted to pass on the titles of the ten winning stories selected for the book, which she hopes you will buy, read and enjoy*. And she’s looking forward to finding out who wrote them.

So without further ado, here are the winning entries, runners-up and long-listed in this hotly contested year. Congratulations to all, thanks for these marvellous short stories.

And the one-off Willesden Herald mug inscribed “Willesden Short Story Prize 2017” goes to:
1st Prize (£300) –  “Dark Song” by Roberta Dewa

2nd (£200): “Art Zoo” by Paul J. Martin
3rd (£100): “Swimming Lessons” by Douglas Hill

(The remaining seven shortlisted receive £75 each.)

Shortlist
The following will be published in “Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 10”:
A History of Fire by Gerard McKeown
Art Zoo by Paul Martin
Dark Song by Roberta Dewa
Isa’s Pitch by Maureen Cullen
Rictus by Tanvir Bush
Swimming Lessons by Douglas Hill
The Day John Lennon Died by Raphael Falco
The Fish that was not my Pa by Meganrose Weddle
The Quarry by Katherine Davey
Trespass by Roland Miles

Long List
A History of Fire by Gerard McKeown
Air by Angelina Taylor
Art Zoo by Paul Martin
Dancing Her Black Bones Home by Suzanne Conboy-Hill
Dark Rain Falling by Deirdre Shanahan
Dark Song by Roberta Dewa
Isa’s Pitch by Maureen Cullen
Out by the Lough by Sue Lovett
Overnight in the Day Room by Deirdre Shanahan
Reverse Reaction by Anna Glokas
Rictus by Tanvir Bush
Swimming Lessons by Douglas Hill
The Collectors by Michael Antoinetti
The Day John Lennon Died by Raphael Falco
The Fish that was not my Pa by Meganrose Weddle
The Lapidary by Melanie Whipman
The Nationals by Andrew Moffat
The Quarry by Katherine Davey
Trespass by Roland Miles
Winter Kale by Shannon Hopkins

There were 445 entries in total. Thank you to everyone who entered and gave us such delicious torment over the past months trying to see how we could possibly choose between so many fascinating stories.

* Coming soon: Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 10. Watch this space for news on its launch and release.

George Saunders on the art of the story

Short story writer George Saunders, winner of the Man Booker prize for 2017 for his debut novel Lincoln in the Bardo, on "how to tell a compelling and humanizing story—and how to avoid the pitfalls of a bad one."

Seasons

Don't look harshly on
the cold season that comes,
embrace it like an old friend
you might never see again.

Say something to Spring,
it's not without fears,
it's destined for the tragedy
of completeness.

Summer wants you,
Summer is not shy.
Summer won't bite you,
at least say Hi.

Take Autumn to the theatre,
something serious. Read
free verse from before the war.
But hurry.

--
Stephen Moran
(2010)

All the happy moments

All the happy moments have whirled and twirled
and flown south for the winter. This morning
a few crazy stragglers defy the rain, and down here
the heavy minutes, shaking out their feathers.

--
Stephen Moran
(2013)

Street layout improvements - Sudbury Hill Harrow

Improvement works on Greenford Road near Sudbury Hill have been going on for "quite a while". A local woman passerby volunteered, "They don't know what they're doing."

Note: It's a joint project by Ealing and Harrow councils as the area around the station crosses the boundary between the two boroughs with Ealing to the south of the railway bridge and Harrow to the north. The map in the photo is aligned north to the right and south to the left.

445 entries - Reading

The total number of entries received was 445. We're swimming in fiction here, and loving it. Hoping to have some results about end of October. Watch this space, as they say. Making more noise on Facebook and Twitter, if you are keen. There's also the newsletter, which has the advantage of not needing space to be watched.

Liars' League - Tuesday 12th at 7pm - The Phoenix, W1

FROM LIARS' LEAGUE

Our female-focused September event, Women & Girls, will feature brand new short stories by and about women (and girls), for everyone to enjoy. The six chosen pieces feature superhero(in)es, ventriloquists, obsession, depression, Victorian prisoners, charismatic polygamists, West Midlands spiritual healers, and all manner of enticing stuff besides ...

WOMEN & GIRLS WINNING STORIES 
Summer Season by Sally Syson *NEW AUTHOR*, read by Charlotte Worthing
Walk a Mile in My Shoes by Olga Wojtas *NEW AUTHOR*, read by Keleigh Wolf
Limbo by Sue Smith *NEW AUTHOR*, read by Jennifer Aries
Finding Jezza by Sally Lane *NEW AUTHOR*, read by Nicky Newman 
The Ends of the Earth by Aileen O'Farrell, read by Annalie Wilson
Le Retreat by Fiona Salter

The show's on Tuesday 12th September: doors open at 7pm and we kick off at 7.30, when the winning stories will be read by our marvellous Liars' League actresses. The night will also feature our infamous interval book quiz (with female-authored novels as prizes #readwomen) and free sweets, just because.

Tickets cost £5 on the door (cash only, no advance booking) and seating is unreserved - so it's a good idea to get there a bit ahead of time if you want a good table. Accessibility note: access to the basement bar is via stairs - there's no lift, alas.

The venue is downstairs at:
The Phoenix
37 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0PP

P.S. We got an amazing number of submissions for this theme - more than double our usual amount - so if we get a good turnout at the event we may make Women & Girls a regular theme. If you think this is a great idea, please do come along, bring your friends and tell everyone you know, of any and every gender, about it. Ta!

Everything you ever wanted to know about ...

Liars' League presents

Link: Event listing on Facebook

Newsletter: Last call for stories. Closing August 31st

This has just gone out by email to our 1755 subscribers. You can read the newsletter online here. It has news about Lane Ashfeldt, our judge for 2017, at the Cork Short Story Festival, and more.

Anaesthesia by Adrian Horn - London Kilburn connection

Anaesthesia, a novel by Adrian Horn, set for publication in September, centres on a Kilburn family and the effect that WW1 has on them. It features local roads, shops, pubs and St Augustine’s church as well as iconic London monuments from the time like the War Office, St James’ Park, the Café Royale, Piccadilly night life etc.

"In the first frantic year of World War 1 London, Jan Strang, the son of a Swedish timber merchant and Lucy Green, daughter of a suburban postmaster become lovers, marry and live with Jan's cosmopolitan parents in Chichester Road, Kilburn. Jan introduces Lucy to a new world of experiences and temptations. But then Jan goes off to fight.

When he returns from his stint as a Second Lieutenant on the Front Line, Lucy quickly discovers he has returned a very different man from the one she married: wounded, battle-scarred and hooked on morphine. Can Lucy's love, faith and inner strength heal his deepest wounds?

With a host of memorable characters, including the scruffy terrier Tinker, the ultimately optimistic Anaesthesia takes us on a gripping atmospheric journey from a London in confusion in 1915 over to Belgium and France and back again to a war-weary London. One is left wondering which is the real battle: the one in Europe or the battle of love over addiction."

Link: www.adrianhornwriter.com

Dinner party bores on Corbyn etc.

Finally someone said it 😂 pic.twitter.com/FoPN9jmIbZ

— Momentum (@PeoplesMomentum) July 27, 2017

Turandot live from the Royal Opera House

A magnificent production of Puccini's Turandot live from the Royal Opera House, London with Roberto Alagna and a spectacular production. This video includes introductory interviews, vox pop from Trafalgar Square, an overview of the storyline etc. The show starts at about 40 minutes into the recording.

Where are the fire extinguishers, the hoses, the sprinklers?

.@DavidLammy becomes tearful when remembering Khadija Saye, a friend lost in the Grenfell Tower fire. pic.twitter.com/OJdJA5FYSY

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 16, 2017

David Lammy MP

Iceland collection for Grenfell Tower this evening

Yusuf of Iceland, Greenford Road, collecting donations and

supplies for those affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Treen

The great trees, tall-masted,
heave away and sail by,
while I, who cannot move,
reach out and sway to them,
as they follow their green way.
For now it's Summer.

--
Stephen Moran

The Willesden Prize, Stories and Tunnels

How interesting to read Lane Ashfeldt’s take, on judging for the International Willesden Herald Short Story Prize 2017!

The Impossible Dream

Groundwork UK - Brent Volunteering Fair - 5th June

Date and Time

Monday 5 June 2017
1pm to 4pm

Location

The Bridge, Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley
HA9 0FJ

Ever thought about volunteering?

For details and how to register, click here: Event link.

Donald, Vlad and Maybe

CARRIED AWAY

A.B.C. - Always Be Continuing

There is a mnemonic that salesmen swear by, ABC - "Always Be Closing". But in fiction, it might be better to say Always Be Continuing. Not only is there often an unnecessary last sentence in a story, there are sometimes unnecessary last sentences even in paragraphs too. Maybe it's a tendency to want "to tie a ribbon on it". But that goes against the need to unfurl, to expand. After all someone could break a tooth on those unpopped kernels of popcorn. When you come to continue writing in your next session, don't you often delete the last sentence from the time before? This is something I'm trying to remember myself, when I try to write fiction.

Steve

Trump 666

I told you, leave that bit alone!

Open for submissions

Update: Lane Ashfeldt's take on judging this year's competition: The Willesden Prize, Stories and Tunnels
_______

This is the newsletter that just went out to our subscribers. If you’re thinking of subscribing to our mailing list and want to see what past newsletters were like, here is the archive.

See here for all about the competition and how to enter. Thanks, cheers, Steve M.

Newsletter announcing 2017 short story competition

I just sent out this email newsletter to our 1500+ subscribers, with details of the 2017 competition, opening 1 May. Cheers! (Steve)

Ancient oak felled in South Vale, Harrow

Uh-oh

The tree has already been cut into sections.

Some of the sections

Hard to count the rings where the saw's been

More than a hundred years?

Never noticed anything different about the tree they've felled, so the question now is what was wrong with this tree, and are the other oaks, along South Vale and trees elsewhere in Harrow, in danger now as well? It's been reported from other areas of the country that privatised contractors are felling trees and replacing them with saplings, because it's cheaper than maintaining the old trees. Could that be happening in Harrow?

Hampstead and Kilburn - Tulip Siddiq

Want to know more about me and my home seat of Hampstead and Kilburn? Today I spoke to local constituent @widestreamfilms #PickTulip pic.twitter.com/jZHBaE1cCZ

— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) April 23, 2017

Tulip Siddiq's constituency of "Hampstead and Kilburn" also covers part of Willesden, following boundary changes a few years ago. It was the most marginal constituency in the UK when Glenda Jackson won by just 42 votes in her last term before retirement. Every vote counts! #ge2017

Wildflower

Common Dog-violet, Viola riviniana (no?)