Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival Announces Fiction Contest Finalists

Here at the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, we re always on the lookout for fresh voices and undiscovered talent. With this aim at heart, we launched our second annual Fiction Contest in June 2009. By the contest s mid-November deadline, our mailboxes at the Festival HQ were heaving with a total of 662 entries.

The entries were funny, sad, entertaining and illuminating. Narrowing down the submissions to just ten finalists proved to be a challenge. After much deliberation and passionate debate, a short list emerged. Below is the list of finalists (in alphabetical order of the author s last name):

She's Not There" by Vanessa Blakeslee

A New Year by Elizabeth Edelglass

The Road Home by Janet Freeman

The Slope of the Sea by Virginia Hartman

A Confusion about Ears and Crows by Deidre Hare Jacobson

The Boy with the Crooked Neck by Caleb Johnson

Polaroid by Kristen-Paige Madonia

The Size of a Small Coffin by Rebecca McCarthy

Love in Stories by Nicholas Scorza

Escape from Frog Island by Fred Setterberg

Acclaimed novelist and short story writer Jill McCorkle will choose the winner in the coming weeks. Her decision will be announced by March 1, 2010.

We would like to thank authors who submitted their work for consideration. We d love to see you at this year s Festival. Our program should inspire your future literary endeavors. Dave Eggers will talk about crafting energetic stories, Jill McCorkle will speak about creating moving short fiction and super agent Marly Rusoff will dish on the business of the book deal. See www.tennesseewilliams.net for more program highlights. Don t forget, your participation in the contest entitles you to a student rate on tickets.

And for the playwrights who entered the One-Act Play Contest, we ll be in touch very soon with the shortlist!

Happy writing to all, and we ll see you in the French Quarter in March!