Dear Tej Rae,
Thank you for sending us your first pages. We received a record number of entries this year – 583 – and the quality of submissions was high. With entries from all over the world, written in fiction of all genres and creative non-fiction of all stripes, it was hard to settle on a longlist of 38 with many entries coming very close to being on that list.
The longlist is as follows (in no particular order).
The Time-Share Husband of Ngulube Road by Tej Rae
Giants on the Hill, Stars in the Grass by Jarrod Chlapowski
We Make Them Pay by Sara Allen
The Waves of Sorrow and Understanding by Nicholas Gerogiannis
Land of Lambs and Wolves by Rowena Tuziak
Givenchy’s Kiss by Kathleen Giugliano
Burn Down This World by Tina Egnoski
The Ghosts We Carry by Fiona White
Fall and Recovery by Joanne De Simone
Life / Insurance by Tara Deal
Mother, Once Removed by Ellen Leary
The Trailing Edge by Lori Jakiela
The Resistance Stone: A Family Memoir by Jennie Bauduy
Convenience Shopping in Thailand by Martin Maroney
Project Orpheus by Maya James
Night Watch by Janet Howle
The Openings by Jessica Lee Richardson
C8 by Eleanor Roth
Excerpt from Save As Normal_dating_suicide by Sarah Fay
Creek by Caitlin Raleigh
Home and Away by Angie O’Gorman
… and up to nine! by Tanja Russita
The Veblen Effect: A Rural American Childhood by Caitlin Hill
Alex from Ashes by Elena Jube
Reckoning by Alyson Porter
Kill for Love by Laura Picklesimer
Safer to Die by Margaret Weir
The Californias Between Us by Elizabeth Browne
Mississippi Goddamn by Sarah Fuchs
The Bright Morning Star by Rebecca Haas
A Stupid Masculine Show by T. Smith
And The Rain Came Tumbling Down by Jo Gatford
Seagull Pie by Sandra Jensen
Who is William Brown? by Sarah Tanburn
Hiroshima Bomb Money by Terry Watada
The Last Field by Louise Tucker
Thief’s Hour by Matthew Scott
Colony by Lorna Riley
We will announce the shortlist in a few days and this year’s three winners will be notified early March. The prize presentation takes place on Friday 3 May during the Stockholm Writers’ Festival.
See https://www.stockholmwritersfestival.com for full details of this unique 3-day workshop.
In April, we’ll send an email with feedback and comments from the judging committee as to what they enjoyed and what worked in many entries, and particular qualities that elevated these long-listed pieces.
We hope this will provide some helpful feedback on your work.
Sincerely,
Lizzie, Team FPP
Stockholm Writers Festival