It has been a revelation, seeing how people are taking my attitude re: Willesden and Zadie Smith’s refusal to award the prize this year.
(I refer to a few blogs I've visited, intelligent people... a few well known people. And to an office of excellent writers from around the world on Zoetrope, working together on a multicultural project)
I supported her decision. I am apparently gloating. Just because I was a joint winner two years back and won a mug, I am now gloating that writers (including a super writer I know personally) have been hurt and disappointed.
Maybe people need to remember that I see hundreds of entries for Cadenza competitions every year and the standard of most is low. And those PAY to enter!! I therefore was able to imagine what happened with a free-to-enter competition…the bulk would have been not worth putting into the race.
Including my own.! Some you wins, some you doesn’t. You need time to see work for what it is...
But we are lucky. Cadenza has enough of a literary reputation that there have always been a cohort of strong stories vying for the little £200 prize.
Frequently, when we choose a winning story, we find the writer has won prizes before. Sometimes all three placed writers will be seasoned competition entrants. This time for example, I was delighted to find that the story we both picked blind as winner with no dispute at all, was written by GP Jo Cannon. She has won several awards.
Gloating? Come on.
If I wanted to, I could have hidden behind a pseudonym, or called myself anonymous to post on Willesden Herald. I didn’t.
The lady had a point, and I agreed with it. I SEE enough bad writing to be able to agree with impunity.
My novel in progress is supported by a Grant for the Arts
SHORT CIRCUIT -A Guide to the Art of the Short Story. (Salt Publishing, Nov. 2009)
"A gold mine of insights and ideas..." -The Bridport Prize organisers...
'Riveting...'. (Mslexia)
Waterstone’s says: "...some of the most beautifully crafted and engrossing stories that one can read..." The Asham Award website says: "This stunning range of work is not afraid to explore the darker side of human emotion, yet allows us to see the light which often wavers at the end of the bleakest and longest tunnel. These beautifully written stories are in the best literary tradition, lyrical yet understated. "
Field Guide to Flash Fiction, Rose Metal Press, USA
an exhaustive, thoughtful, idea-producing guide to one of the lesser-known forms of literary expression, the short short story - Anne Bernays
About Me
.JPG)
100 STORIES FOR HAITI
Available from the publisher, Bridge House, or from Amazon, Waterstones online etc etc. All profits to Red Cross
Something that never went away...
I have three pieces in this marvellous anthology, published by the adoption charity, AAA-NORCAP
ONE WORLD - A GLOBAL ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT STORIES
New Internationalist April 2009
Fish Anthology 2008
Forewords from the fiction judges, Carlo Gebler and self
Fish Prize 2007
Bridport Prize 2007
“The best of new writing from the winners of one of the toughest open writing competitions in the English language.”
Willesden Herald New Short Stories 1,
Etchings (Australia)
Tales of the Decongested II
Safe World Gone Anthology Honno 2007
ORBIS 149
Fish Prize Anthology 2006
See You Next Tuesday Anthology II
Better Non Sequitur press, USA
Creative Commons License
A Shameless Lion
Awarded by Charles Lambert...
GUD Magazine
Bravado (New Zealand)
.Cent Magazine, Spring 2009
Riptide
Thema (USA)
Penumbra
Birmingham Arts Journal
Refuge
Stories from Brighton's refugees and asylum seekers
2 comments:
Interesting post, Vanessa. In your experience, would you be surprised out of 850 stories to get none that were publishable? Or how many on average?
Hello Emerging Writer...
'Publishable' is such a very broad word.
Walk round the average newsagents and you will find many many magazines full of stories.
The womens' magazine fiction market publishes thousands of stories every year, earning their writers good sums.
There's a vast market, paid, for gory horror stories. The gorier the better. Loads on the web and in print.
There's a strong paid market for erotica. For good children's stories. For sci-fi, the list goes on.
Additionally, the range of publications available to aspiring writers of literary fiction encompass a huge field. From The New Yorker at the top, to small ezines at the other end.
So sure, there might be work in any competition that might hit at the lower end of the scale.
Therefore its certainly possible that many/some/a few/ of the 850 submissions would have been 'publishable'. I can't call.
But just because they might be 'publishable' does not mean they would find success in a literary short story competition.
Post a Comment