In the Spring of 2019, the Franklin County Writers’ Guild hosted DD’s Starving Writers Fiction Contest receiving 116 entries from US and international writers. Winning entries were submitted by writers in the United States and Canada.
1st Place — Ashley Memory (Asheboro, NC) won first place ($500 prize) for Golden Delicious. Ashley lives in the Uwharrie Mountains of the Piedmont with her husband, sculptor Johnpaul Harris. A former communications director at UNC, she now spends her days musing on metaphors and poking around abandoned cemeteries. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The Thomas Wolfe Review, The News & Observer in Raleigh, and Wildlife in North Carolina to name a few. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she is a two-time recipient of the Doris Betts Fiction Prize.
2nd Place — Second place and a $250 prize went to Leslie Carlin (Toronto, Canada) for End of Times in the Santa Susanna Pass. Leslie is an anthropologist by day and a writer by night. In addition to a number of academic articles, her publications include several short stories and a personal essay. One of her stories recently won first prize in the Baltimore Review fiction contest. An American from California, Leslie has lived in England, Indonesia, and currently in Canada.
3rd Place — Yong Takahashi (Atlanta, GA) took third place ($100 prize) for Full. Yong won the Chattahoochee Valley Writers National Short Story Contest and the Writer’s Digest’s Write It Your Way Contest. Her collection of short stories will be published in 2020.
Winners will split $950 in prize money to be awarded at Franklin County Writers’ Guild County Lines: A Literary Journal Book Launch event on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at the Vance-Granville Community College’s Franklin County campus — 8100 NC-56, Louisburg, NC. The winning fiction pieces will be published in the annual journal.
The Judge — Nancy Peacock, author of novels Life Without Water (chosen as a New York Times Notable Book), Home Across the Road, and The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson judged this fiction contest. In addition to writing, she conducts writing workshops and retreats for women. Her free Prompt Writing Class has been active since 2003 and continues to gain in popularity. In 2018 Nancy served as Piedmont Laureate for the counties of Orange, Durham, and Wake.
The DD’s Starving Writers Fiction Contest was made possible by an anonymous donor, and was facilitated by the Writers Guild of the Franklin County Arts Council.
Source: Ellen Queen, Franklin County Arts Council
