Bridport Prize 2004 - Short Story Prizewinners. Judge :- Jim
Crace
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| Judges short story report |
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| 1st Prize £3000 Dorene O'Brien, USA. "#12 Dagwood on
Rye" |
| Dorene O'Brien was born in Detroit and now teaches writing at
the College for Creative Studies and at Wayne State University.
Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in the Connecticut
Review, Clackamas Literary Review, New Millennium Writings, the
Red Rock Review, the MacGuffin, Peregrine, Fine Print, the
Chicago Tribune and others. She is the 2000 winner of Red Rock
Review's Mark Twain Award for Short Fiction, the 2002 winner of
New Millennium's Fiction Award, a 2003 winner of the Chicago
Tribune Nelson Algren Award, has been nominated for a 2003
Pushcart Prize and has received a 2004 literature fellowship from
the National Endowment for the Arts. She currently lives in West
Bloomfield, Michigan, with her husband Pat and her daughter
Hadley. |
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| 2nd Prize £1000 Janey Runci, Melbourne, Australia.
"The Visit"" |
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Janey Runci lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she teaches
fiction writing in the Professional Writing and Editing course at
the Centre for Adult Education. She has had a number of short
stories published in Australian literary journals and magazines,
including Meanjin, Fine Line and Australian Post and an
anthology, Red Hot Notes. She received a Writing Project Grant
from the Australia Council and is currently working on short
fiction and a novel. She won a supplementary prize in the
Bridport Competition in 2002. |
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| 3rd Prize £500 Emma Darwin, London, UK. "Maura's
Arm" |
| Emma Darwin was born and brought up in London, with
interludes in Manhattan and Brussels. After St Paul's Girls'
School she read Drama at Birmingham University, and then worked
in academic publishing, before being distracted by two children,
a photographic darkroom, and a divorce. Emma has always
considered herself to be a novelist, but having written her novel
Shadows in the Glass in the first year of the MPhil in Writing at
the University of Glamorgan, she started to experiment with short
fiction. 'Maura's Arm' is one of the results. It is part of her
current project, an as-yet-untitled collection of stories set in
London at various periods including the Wars of the Roses, the
Gordon Riots and the 1920s. Emma now lives in South East London
with her teenage children, and her other current project is
completing her MPhil. If asked, she will admit to being a
great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin. |
Photo by Sue Rose |
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Supplementary Prizes (alphabetical order) - £50 Each
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| Meredith Andrew, Toronto, Canada. "The West
Coast" |
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Meredith Andrew's short story was written while she was
attending the M.A. programme in Creative Writing at University
College Chichester. She has published two novels in Canada,
Deadly by Nature and Margery Looks Up, as well as a number of
odds and ends for newspapers and journals. Until recently, she
was living with her partner and son near Battle, East Sussex, but
now is back in Toronto. Her son was named after Russell Hoban's
Riddley Walker and she loves the idea of wilderness. |
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| Andrew Campbell, London, UK. "Bonfire" |
Andrew Campbell graduated from St Andrews University in 1997
with a degree in medieval history. He works as a freelance writer
and editor of children's non-fiction books and has recently begun
teaching English to adults again.
He has composed more stories in his head than on paper. |
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| Hannah-Fleur Fitz-Gibbon, London, UK. "The Peppermint
Room" |
| After graduating from The University of Manchester with a
First in English and American Literature in June 2003,
Hannah-Fleur started an MA in Creative and Life Writing at
Goldsmiths in September 2004. She works part time for the
children's mobility charity, Whizz-Kidz and is currently revising
her first novel which she hopes to finish by the end of 2004.
Hannah-Fleur live in South-West London. |
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| Kim Kolarich, Chicago, USA. "Far Rockaway" |
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Kim Kolarich is a fiction writer/playwright from Chicago
where she received a B.A. in Advertising from Columbia
College.
She is the recipient of the 2004 John Wood Community College
Literary Prize. Her short stories have also received honorable
mentions for the 2004 Page Edwards Short Fiction Contest and the
2004 CNW/Florida State Writing Competition. She was a fiction
finalist for the 2002 Arts & Letters Journal of Contemporary
Culture Prize, and a semifinalist for the 2002 H.E. Francis
Literary Competition.
As a playwright, Kim's work was a finalist for the 2003 O'Neill
Playwright's Conference and also received honorable mention and
was performed at the 2002 Pittsburgh New Works Festival.
She currently lives in Chicago with her husband and is working on
a collection of short stories and a full-length play. |
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| Alan McCormick, London, UK. "Howl" |
| Alan McCormick was born in Mombasa, Kenya, in 1961. He
studied politics at York University, and has worked in
third-world development, and as a performer in live comedy and
fringe theatre. He has been writing for three years and is just
completing an MA in writing at Middlesex University, as well as
his first short story collection, 'Dogsbodies'. He's recently
been shortlisted in various competitions and won the 2004
Middlesex University Press Literary Prize. His story, 'Who loves
ya, baby?, will be published in 'Matter' in October of this
year. |
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| Sheila Pehrson, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, UK.
"Lighting" |
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Sheila Pehrson was born and grew up in North Wales. She was a
speech therapist before training to teach the Alexander
Technique. She has been a prizewinner in the Good Housekeeping
/Waterstones short story competition. She is not good at sending
her stories away but is very glad that this one escaped. |
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| Ellie Phillips, London, UK. "Pants on Fire" |
| Ellie read English at Oxford University and then moved to
London and trained as a journalist. She worked in publications
before changing careers and doing a counselling diploma. She
spent a couple of years in Kingsbridge, Devon and has just
returned with her young son to be nearer her family. She was
runner up in the Orange Short Fiction Prize for 2001 from where
she gained an agent. Ellie is currently working on her second
novel. |
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| Laura Solomon, London, Uk. "Sprout" |
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Laura Solomon was born in New Zealand in 1974, and has lived
in London since 1999. She has an honours degree in English
literature (Victoria University, NZ, 1997) and a Masters degree
in computer science (University of London, 2003). She has
published two novels in New Zealand with Tandem Press: 'Black
Light' (1996) and 'Nothing Lasting' (1997). Her first play, 'The
Dummy Bridge', was produced as part of the Wellington Fringe
Festival, and her second, based on her short story, 'Sprout', was
part of the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her passions included
music, skiing and John Malkovich.
She has recently completed a new novel, 'Imitation of Life'. She
is represented by Martina Dervis at Imrie & Dervis. |
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| J D Taylor, Huddersfield, UK. "The Lost Trawlers of
Wyke" |
| J D Taylor, was born near Hull in 1955. Mostly a technical
writer or a teacher, in UK and abroad. He published a book of
poems, A Passing Through Place (1998) and read and won
prizes here and there (3rd in Peterloo 2004). He has published a
few stories, notably one in Stand. He has one unpublished
novel and one in the middle. He says he has just given up a job
to get past the middle - or start again. |
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| Mick Wood, Manningtree, Essex, UK. "Locus
Sanctus" |
| Mick, 40, is a theatre practitioner specialising in devised
and community theatre. He has written extensively for theatre,
working most recently with Opera North, writing libretti for the
'Resonance Festival' of new chamber opera. Mick won an Ian St.
James Award in 1997, a Fish Prize in 1998, and was shortlisted
for the Writers Inc. Writer of the Year Competition in 2001. This
year he won first prize in the Drama Association of Wales One Act
Playwriting Competition for his play 'Snoop'. He has recently
completed a first novel. |
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Bridport Prize 2004 - Poetry Prizewinners. Judge : - Paul Farley
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| Judges poetry report |
| 1st Prize £3000 William Hampton, Colchester, Essex,
UK "Encountering my first untouchables" |
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William was born in Salford, Lancashire in 1959 and took a
degree in Religion with Literature from Bristol University in the
days when such a thing was possible.
Since then he has worked in magazine publishing, nature
conservation and community care. He lives in Colchester and works
with people who have learning difficulties.
William's first published poem was in The Rialto fifteen years
ago, so he don't rush things.
He came 3rd in the 2004 Cardiff International Competition, and
was in the anthology for the Arvon Competition 2000. Other work
has appeared in several magazines, most recently in Boomerang on
the internet. |
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2nd Prize £1000 Alex Pestell, Brighton, East Sussex,
UK. "Lost in Translation"
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| Alex Pestell was born in London in 1974, and currently lives
in Brighton. He edits the poetry webzine Signals
(www.signalsmagazine.co.uk). |
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3rd Prize £500 Malcolm Watson, Hull, East Yorkshire,
UK. "Sub"
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| Malcolm Watson has been a builder's labourer, a
blast-furnaceman, a DHSS Visiting Officer, a hospital porter, an
advertising copywriter, Ph.D student and Whitehall civil servant.
He was encouraged to continue writing poetry by Philip Larkin in
1970 and has won prizes in several competitions. He is now an
artist living in Hull with his wife and two children. |
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Supplementary Prizes (alphabetical order) - £50 Each
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| Christopher Buckley, Lompoc, California, USA.
"Poverty" |
| Christopher Buckley is the author of 13 books of poetry, most
recently 'Sky', The Sheep Meadow Press. Other books included
'Star Apocrypha' and 'Fall from Grace'. He has edited three
anthologies of contemporary poetry, a critical book on poet
Philip Levine, and has a new critical/biographical collection on
the poet Larry Levis coming from Eastern Washington University
Press in 2004. Buckley teaches in the Creative Writing Department
and MFA Program at the University of California, Riverside. He
lives in Lompoc CA with his wife, the artist, Nadya Brown. |
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| Polly Clark, Oxford, UK. "Dumbarton" |
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Polly Clark's first collection Kiss (Bloodaxe 2000) was a
Poetry Book Society Recommendation and in 2004 she was selected
as one of Mslexia Magazine ten best poets to emerge in the last
decade. She is Editor ofwww.pirandello.org.uk the literary
website for the south east of England |
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| Graham Clifford, London, UK. "Searching for
Sleep" |
| Graham Clifford is a graduate of the UEA creative writing MA,
which he graduated from in 2001. He has since been published in
numerous magazines including the Rialto, Smiths Knoll, Staple and
Magma. Last year Graham was the bursary prize winner in the
Writers-inc Poetry Competition, and was commended in the
Arvon/Telegraph 2002 poetry competition. This year he has been a
runner up in the Ragged Raven Press poetry competition, third
prize winner in the Pitshanger poetry competition, fourth prize
winner in the Peterloo comp and second runner up in the Frogmore
Press competition. He has performed at various literary events
including the Hay on Wye, the Troubadour Cafe and the Poetry
Cafe. He currently works as a primary school teacher in
Newham. |
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| Sandra Hill, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia. "At the Polite
Pub, Hanoi" |
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Born in Lincolnshire, Sandra Hill's childhood was spent in
Yorkshire. For some years she's lived in Australia, where her
poems have been widely published and won many prizes. The poem is
part of a recently completed collection of poetry located in
Vietnam, called 'View from the Lucky Hotel'. Her poetry has been
published in journals and anthologies etc..... |
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| River Jones, Brighton, East Sussex, UK. "The Hanging
Babies" |
| A mother of three boys, she works for the University of
Sussex managing outreach projects and teaching creative writing
on open access courses. River is a keen student of yoga, a
practicing ritualist and occasional celebrant / officiant. She
loves performing her work, telling stories and dancing. |
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| Peter Knaggs, Hull, East Yorkshire,UK. "Wigginton has a
donkey called Primus and a hip flask as his companions" |
| Peter Knaggs was born in Hull. His Cowboy Hat, published by
Halfacrown, 'for one week knocked Harry Potter off the number one
spot, in one bookshop, in Hull'. Tolstoy on a Horse, a full
collection included in the three-in-one book, Half a Pint of
Tristram Shandy, was published by Route. He was a prize winner in
the 2003 Bridport competition. |
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| Linda Lamus, Bristol, UK. "The fighting ox called Sewing
Machine" |
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Linda Lamus is a journalist living in Bristol. Travelling is
one of her passions and people met along the way provide a
constant source of inspiration.
She has won a number of poetry competitions including this year's
Yorkshire Open Poetry Competition. In 2000 she was short-listed
in the Arvon Poetry Competition and won third prize in the Poetry
London Competition in 2001
Linda has read her work several times on BBC Radio. |
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| Carola Luther, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, UK.
"Channel" |
| Carola Luther was born in South Africa in 1959. She moved to
Yorkshire in 1981 where she now lives and works. She has recently
completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan
University. Her first collection 'Walking the Animals' has been
shortlisted for the Forward prize for best first collection. |
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| Jane Routh, Lancaster, UK. "The Reedbed" |
| Jane Routh manages woodlands and a flock of geese in north
Lancashire. Her Circumnavigation won the Poetry Business Book and
Pamphlet Competition in 2002, and was shortlisted for the Forward
Prize Best First Collection 2003. |
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| Julian Turner, Otley, UK. "The Gas Poker" |
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Born in 1955 in Cheadle Hulme, educated at New College Oxford
and Goldsmith's College London. Worked most of my life in the
mental health field, currently Chief Executive at Leeds Mind.
There has always been a counterpoint between the people stuff and
the more solitary pursuit of writing. Lives with partner and
daughter in Otley, West Yorks. |
 | The Bridport Prize is a fundraiser for Bridport Arts Centre, charity no 1069780 |
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