REVEALED: Shortlist for Long Way Home writing competition
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CLARENCE Valley writers are shining brightly this year, with ten stories making the shortlist for the 2020 Long Way Home story competition.
With the students’ shortlist announced a fortnight ago, it was the adults’ turn this week. According to Long Way Home co-founder Claire Aman, the top ten stories show that nothing can stop good storytelling.
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“If anything, writing can be fuelled by adversity,” she said.
“At the beginning of the year we decided on land/marks as a theme, thinking there’d be plenty to write about. We weren’t wrong; drought, bushfires, flood, pandemic, ecological decline. It’s been a landmark year for writing.
“Faced with these things, writing can sometimes be the only way to respond, whether in humour, grief, allegory, or the great escape of fantasy.
“We congratulate the short-listed authors, who come from all over the valley. To bring a short story from idea stage to deadline, takes imagination, effort and boldness.”
The short-listed stories will all be published in the 2020 editions of Stories from the Clarence Valley, with the book becoming available in late November. The winner will be announced later this year.
Established in 2018 by locals Erin Brady, Yohanna Dent and Claire Aman, The Long Way Home competition grows ever more popular.
“This year we received more stories than ever,’ said Ms Brady.
“The quality of writing was very high. So many stories were so close to making the shortlist, but we could only take ten. We encourage everyone to keep writing, reading, telling stories.”
The short-listed authors are:
Gaye Sprenglewski – Chocolate Soldier
Kylie Fennell – Finding Home
Jo Parry – Letters to my Love
Corrie Hayes – Our Local Paper
Caitlin Annesley – The Chair
Stephanie Haines – Pinnacles
Cathy Callaghan – The Memory of Trees
John Coleman – The Obelisk
Norm Mjadwesch – Tough as Nails
Tommy Welham – Watermarks
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To find out who made the school shortlist, people can head to www.thelongwayhomestories.com
The Long Way Home can also be found on Facebook.
