Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society Featuring Words & Music

The judges for the 2012 William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition have
completed the selection process for winners and runners-up in all categories and we are pleased to announce
their choices by categories. Congratulations to you all!
Winners are our guests for the events of Words & Music, 2012.
The work of Winners and Runners-up will be published in the on-line 2013 Double Dealer in November.

Novels & Narrative Non-Fiction

Judged by Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management

Winner

Jerusalem As a Second Language

Rochelle Distelheim, Highland Park, IL

Prize Made Possible by a Grant from Judith "Jude" Swenson
In Memory of
James W. Swenson

Runners-up

First:
An Organized Panic
The Author Has Asked to Remain Anonymous

Second:
Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence
David Samuel Levinson, Durham, NC
David Samuel Levinson is the author of the story collection, Most of Us Are Here Against Our Will, and the forthcoming novel, Antonia Lively Breaks The Silence (Algonquin Books, June 2013). His stories have been published in The Brooklyn Review, West Branch, and Prairie Schooner, among others. He is currently the writer-in-residence at Texas A&M University.

Other Finalists

After the Octopus
Mark Spitzer, Conway, AR
A Perfect Day for an Expat Exit
Robert Raymer, Sarawak, Malaysia
A Summer's Lynching
Juan Reyes, Tuscaloosa, AL
Flasher
Susan Levi Wallach, Columbia, SC
Good Neighbors
Helen Scully, New Orleans, LA
Little Egypt
Susan Isaak Lolis, Atlanta, GA
Lords of An Empty Land
Randy Denmon, Monroe, LA
Shriver
Chris Belden, Ridgefield, CT
Thanksgiving
Mary Arno, Clarence Center, NY
The Frog Surgeon
Dean Pascal, MD, New Orleans, LA
The Garvis Papers
Garic Barranger, Covington, LA
Travels in Vermeer (Memoir)
Michael White, Wilmington, NC
Waking the Dead in Music City
Dana Brantley-Sieders, Nashville, TN

Novella

The 15 finalists listed below have been submitted to master fiction writer Moira Crone, winner of the
Robert Penn Warren Award for her impressive body of work and former director of the LSU MFA program.
A total of 267 novellas were received and qualified to compete.

Judged by Short Fiction Writer and Novelist Moira Crone

Inspection

Daniel Castro, Madrid, Spain

Prize Made Possible by a Grant from
The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation

Equal Runners-Up

Albert's Lark: A Concerto for Black Hole
Gary Bollick, Clemmons, NC

The Odd Sea
Petra Perkins, Highlands Ranch, CO
Petra Perkins has lived and worked in Louisiana, California, Colorado, and her favorite city, Seattle -- but now she writes passionately about being held prisoner in Denver. She tried to write a bit during her career in the aerospace industry as an engineer then manager, and recently as a STEM education volunteer and mentor. But now Petra is a full- time author of fiction, poetry, memoir, creative non-fiction and essay, winning an award in the Denver Woman's Press Club 2011 Contest for Unknown Writers in Fiction.

The Saltonfell Case
Alice Leaderman, University Park, MD
Alice V. Leaderman is a New Englander transplanted to the South (Maryland). She writes fiction, including stories, novellas, and one novel, and participates in an excellent writers’ group. Two years ago she added cross-country skiing to other outdoor activities such as hiking, downhill skiing, and gardening with native plants. Ms. Leaderman graduated from Barnard College, and she earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from George Mason University in 2002.

A Good Listener
James McEnteer, Quito, Ecuador
A Missing Life
Wendy Simons, Stevensville, MI
Sister Carrie
William Coles, Salt Lake City, UT
The First Line
Jacqueline Guidry, Kansas City, MO
The Lion's Requieum
Yoon-Ji Han, Tai Tam, Hong Kong
Theopraxis
Robert Ferrell, La Vernia, TX
The Shopkeeper, The Thief and his Horse
Julie Chagi, Scotts Valley, AZ
The Wayside
Maria Adelman, Charlottesville, VA
Trigger
Joyce Miller, Cincinnati, OH
TripTik
Marilyn Moriarity, Roanoke, VA
You Got a Hundred?
Russell Simon, Elwood, Victoria, Australia

For others who placed, Click Here!

Winner

Judged by Deborah Grosvenor, Grosvenor Literary Agency

A Boy Called Riot

Kim McLarin, Mattapan, MA

Prize Made Possible By A Grant From:
Bertie Deming Smith And The Deming Foundation

Runners-up

First:
Chiaroscuro
Jennifer Steil, London, England
Jennifer Steil is author of The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, An American Woman’s Adventures in the Oldest City on Earth. Published by Broadway Books/Random House), it is a memoir of the year she spent as editor of the Yemen Observer newspaper in Sana’a. The book received accolades in The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Sydney Morning Herald. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune chose it as one of their best travel books of 2010, and Elle magazine awarded it their Readers’ Prize. It has been published in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, and Poland. Jennifer is now completing her first novel.

Equal:
Lower Case Love
Geoff Schutt, Gaithersburg, MD
Geoff Schutt’s short fiction has appeared in The Quarterly (edited by Gordon Lish for Vintage Books/Random House), The Best of Writers at Work, The Wastelands Review and The Laurel Review, among others, and internationally in In Other Words: Merida. He has received three artist grants for his fiction-as-performance art from The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. After living in Ohio for many years, he now resides in the Washington, D.C. area. His novel-length work is represented by James McGinniss of McGinniss Associates Literary Agency, New York City. More about Geoff Schutt (and the character named Eleanor from Lower Case Love) is available at his blog, This Side of Paradise, at http://geoffschutt.blogspot.com

Ridgeland,
Paul Byall, Savannah, GA
Paul Byall grew up in Ohio, studied at Miami University (Ohio) and at the University of California. He lived in Barcelona, Spain for six years and in NYC for ten years before moving to Savannah, Georgia where he now writes full time. He is the recipient of the 2011 Porter Fleming Short Story Award, the 2010 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize and the 2009 New South Fiction Award.

Other Finalists
African Son
Peter Tattersall, New Orleans, LA
Angel of Deceit
William H. Coles, Salt Lake City, UT
Bondage
John Malone, Lafayette, LA
Coffee for Copper
Sharon Thatcher of Boise, ID & Wayland Stallard, Roanoke, VA
Constellations
Carlos Cunha, Gainesville, FL
Father’s Day
Adam Falik, New Orleans, LA
Fire on the Island
Timothy Jay Smith, Paris, France
Heavens
Shannon Capone Kirk, Manchester-By-The Sea, MA
Head Count
Janet Taylor Perry, Ridgeland, MS
Johnny’s Gone to Hilo
Andrew Clarke, Milwaukee, WI
Lost Soul
Margie Walker, Houston, TX
On the Track of Unknown Animals
Barbara Litkowski, Zionsville, IN
Psychopomp and Circumstances
Greg Houser, Tuscaloosa, AL
Run of Play,
Seth Satterlee, New York, NY
Teacher of the Year
Rita Ciresi, Wesley Chapel, FL
The Disloyal Planter,
Bernard Smith, Mandeville, LA
The Girl in the Bathtub,
Robert Raymer, Sarawak, Malaysia
The Invention of Violet,
Amy Boutell, Santa Barbara, CA
The Many Deaths of Mickey O’Donovan,
Xavier McCaffrey, Chicago, IL
The Warp and Woof,
Zachary Tyler Vickers, Rome, NY
Trouble with the Hourglass,
Candi Sary, Costa Mesa, CA
Narrow Pilgrim,
Kimberly Faith Waid, New Orleans, LA
Wings,
David Johnson, Kalamazoo, MI
Womb
Mary Hutchins Reed, Chicago, IL

Short Story

The Society received an extraordinary 448 entries in this category, most double the number
we normally receive in the average year. Of this number, roughly half were from Louisiana writers, with
the rest representing 43 the U.S. states and a number of foreign countries: Australia, Canada, England,
Ecuador, Ireland, France, Guatemala, Greece, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Switzerland, and Turkey.

Winner

Judged by Short Fiction Author & Novelist Justin Torres

The Bottom

Alison Grifa Ismaili

Prize Made Possible By A Grant
From the Dr. Donald & J. J. Dooley Fund,
Samuel L. Steele, III, Administrator

First:
Longingly
Milly Heller, New Orleans
Milly Heller lives in New Orleans, where she was born and raised. Her story, Claire, Home Again, will be published in October in The Wordstock Ten.

Second:
And The Sun Sets on Walker Street,
Will Thrift, Columbia, SC
William Thrift, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, has traveled extensively in the US and abroad. After serving many years as a corporate regional manager, his creative side has emerged. In addition to writing a novel, he placed 2nd Runner-up in the 2011 Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society’s Faulkner – Wisdom Creative Writing Competition for his short story, The Summer of My Faith, has been published in the South Carolina Writer’s Workshop’s collection, The Petigru Review, and is the editor and a contributing writer for Columbia Home & Garden magazine. In his spare time, he serves as Secretary for the historic Cottontown neighborhood in Columbia.

Addressing You
Tad Bartlett, Metairie, LA
An Unknown Soldier,
Tadzio Koelb, New York, NY
Deal of a Lifetime,
Bruce Wexler, Elmhurst, IL
In Less Than a Minute,
Russell Reece, Bethel, DE
Jingoes
Matthew Pitt, Gulfport, MS
Lady in Black,
John Halliday, Cary, NC
Lake Sybelia
Karin C. Davidson, Columbus, OH
Locked in the Punch,
James McCallister, Columbia, SC
Mother’s Days,
Paul Negri, Clifton, NJ
My Vegetable Love,
Paul Negri, Clifton, NJ
Oh Thou Whom My Soul Loveth,
Rochelle Distelheim, Highland Park, IL
Perfume River,
Jim Fairhall, Chicago, IL
The Limits of Certainty,
Renee Thompson, Granite, CA
The Necklace,
William Coles, Salt Lake City, UT
The Other Side,
Charles Broome, New Orleans, LA
The Russian Bride,
Becky Browder, Jacksonville, AL
The Uncertainty Principle,
Samantha Schoech, San Francisco, CA
Through the Hole,
Robin Martin, Brooklyn, NY
Water Bear,
Maurice Ruffin, New Orleans, LA
What Felt Good at the Time,
Chris Waddington, New Orleans, LA
Wild Man Wyman, Joseph Barbara, New Orleans, LA

For others who placed, Click Here!

Essay

The total number of essays received for 2012 was 212, which is average for
this category. One third of the entries came from Louisiana writers. The remainder came from writers in 21
states of the U. S. Their were entries from foreign countries in this category.

Winner

Judged by Narrative Non-Fiction Author Andrew Lam

Runners-up

First:
Fossils,
Michael Elliott, Baton Rouge, LA
No information made available.

Second
April's Fool
Mary Ann O'Gorman, Ocean Springs, MS
Mary Ann O'Gorman has lived on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi for 21 years. She is a recent graduate of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the School of Letters at Sewanee-University of the South. She teaches part time at the University of South Mississippi and is also a yoga teacher and avid yoga practitioner. In 2006, she won the Marble Faun Prize in poetry in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition for her poem Invisible. A chapbook of her poetry, Life in This House, was published in 2008 by Finishing Line Press. She is currently working on a novel along with a series of essays on finding her way in the world with a 12- year- old-mind in a 50-something body.

A Lesson Before Writing, Judy Hood, Homestead, FL
All This Time, I Thought My Eyes Were Brown, Cathy Lepik, Atlanta, GA
Anywhere to Hang My Dog–Sketches for a New Beginning, Ruth Moon Kempher,
St. Augustine, FL
Dramatic Entrance, Petra Perkins, Highlands Ranch, CO
Hands to Believe In, Jacqueline Guidry, Kansas City, MO
Happy Hour, Roz Kuehn, Garnet Valley, PA
How I Learned About Sex, Faith Garbin, Ocean Springs, MS
Howling Back: Catharsis, the Mirror Stage, and Blues in Black Snake Moan,
M’Bilia Meekers, New Orleans, LA
Job Motivation, Mary Kuykendall, Middle Grove, NY
Letter from a Logophile, Randy Chaya, Baton Rouge, LA
Mother Love, Madness, and Addiction, Rosemary Daniell, Savannah, GA
My Mother’s Legacy, Lisa L. Meitner, Cheney, KS
Thanksgiving, Cecily Bateman, Mandeville, LA
The Don’t-Tell-Mary Underground, Natasha Peterson, Vienna, VA
The Menu, Terri Shrum Stoor, New Orleans, LA
River Song, Ned Cheever, Texarkana, TX
Searching, Mary Bradshaw, Flowood, MS
Stella’s “Ode to a Nightingale,” Kendall Klein, New Orleans, LA

For others who placed, Click Here!

The Faulkner received a total 186 entires in the Poetry Category, more than half of which were from
students at various Louisiana schools. around the state. The remaining half came from 29 states and four foreign
countries: Australia, Canada, France, and Ireland.

Aftermaths

Peter Cooley, New Orleans, LA

Prize Made Possible By A Gift From:
David Speights
In Memory of Marti Speights

Runners-up

First:
Sugar Maple
Judith White, Chevy Chase, MD
Judith White is a teacher, playwright, poet, director, composer and actor who has worked with young people throughout her career. A graduate of Mary Washington University, she has studied theater at Oberlin, ACT, Northwestern University, and Studio Theater, Washington, D.C., and performed in venues from Off-Broadway to dinner theater. She was Director of Drama and Speech for 26 years at the Holton-Arms School, Bethesda, Md., where she was profiled in The Washingtonian. She continues to mentor teachers throughout the DC area and abroad through the Center for Inspired Teaching. A student of ancient myths, she has written four plays based in world mythology, most recently Pandora’s Fire, for Traveling Players Ensemble in northern Virginia.

Second:
Words Then Space
James Bourey, Dover, DE
James Bourey, like so many other poets, started writing when he was a child and became convinced that he was destined to become the next Frost or Faulkner. Since that didn't work out as planned he worked for forty plus years in a variety of fields including banking, sales and wholesale management while writing on a purely part time basis. But the dream has resurfaced and James now writes everyday while keeping his ambitions firmly in check. He's been married to his wife Linda for 43 years, has two grown daughters and three excellent grandchildren and divides his time between Dover, DE and Dickinson Center, NY.

Third:
Last Will and Testament of L. J.,
Jennifer Bartell, Columbia, SC
Jennifer Bartell is a native of Johnsonville, South Carolina. A poet, she is pursing an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Her work has been published in Jasper Magazine and she is the recipient of the 2012 James Dickey Writing Award for Poetry. She is also the poetry editor of Yemassee, USC’s literary journal.

Other Finalists

A Daub of Wool,
Dennis Fomento, Slidell, LA
After the Poetry,
Judy Hood, Homestead, FL
As the Carousel Revolved in Neon Motion,
Theodore Kogos, St. Louis, MO
Axis,
Julie Ann Candoli, Austin, TX
Chaotic Music,
Songa Brown, Longwood, FL
Circus Job, Day Job,
Lee Deigaard, New Orleans, LA
Civilization,
Craig Black, Darrow, LA
Diane Arbus,
Garic Barranger, Covington, LA
English Class,
Nancy Dafoe, Homer, NY
From Where This Ancient Passion,
Constance Clark, Waynesville, OH
Evermore, Mr. Poe,
Nettie Bauman Parker, West Hartford, CT
Insanity,
T. S. Eleu, Chicago, IL
Near Times Square,
Paul Saluk, Pembroke Pines, FL
November,
Craig Black, Darrow, LA
Passed By,
Craig Black, Darrow, LA
Side Order
N. Colwell Snell, Salt Lake City, UT
S’mores,
William Greenway, Youngstown, OH
The Poet in Tumultuous Youth Reflects,
Stephen Thomas Roberts, Lagrangeville, NY
The Prettiest Road for Sunsets,
Garic Barranger, Covington, LA
The Shrouded Crown,
Manfred Pollard, New Orleans, LA

Short Story by a High School Student

A total of 226 entries were received for Category Seven: Short Story by a High School Student.
Of this total, 63 were manuscripts by students attending various schools in Louisiana.
Other entries were received by students in Alabama, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia,
Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, NewJersey, New York, North Carolina,and Virginia.

Winner

Prize Made Possible By A Grant From:
Nancy and Hartwig Moss, IIII
In Memory Of:
Betty Moss

Second:
Misery, Agony, Heartbreak
Tyler DeSpenza, New Orleans, LA

Third:
History,
Sophia Derbes, Mandeville, LA

Other Finalists

A Brief Moment in the Passage of Time
Lindsay Andrews, New Orleans, LA
Always Room for You
Joshua Call, New Orleans, LA
A Ticket to Quivera.
Janaki Chadha, Berkeley Heights, NJ
Brady,
Darby Cressy, New Orleans, LA
Clouds of Grey,
Annie Cooperstone, Westport, CT
Emily & John,
Miles Jordon Essix, Atlanta, GA
For the Pets,
Maria Alvarado Velasquez, Idyllwild, CA
Inheritance,
Raley Pellittieri, Ponchatoula, LA
Keeping My Promise,
Shauna Moore, Gretna, LA
Luke and the Moon,
Aaron Cooper-Lob, New Orleans, LA
Maybe I’ll Leave, But Not Today ,
Jada Zenella, New Orleans, LA
My Name is Aubrey,
Meghan Prieto, Sulphur, LA
Never Again,
Mitchell Ashby, Petal, MS
Resident of the Cadavers,
Lee Bordlee, New Orleans, LA
Jada Zenella, New Orleans, LA
The Fences I Vaulted to Escape,
Jacob Merrell, Sag Harbor, NY
Today My Husband is Black ,
Madeline LeCesne, Algiers, LA

For others who placed, Click Here!

Faulkner Society events are made possible in part by important support from The Arts Council of New Orleans, the City of New Orleans, and the Decentralized Arts Funding Program of The Louisiana Division of the Arts; the J. J. and Dr. Donald Dooley Fund and administrator, Samuel L. Steele, III; Bertie Deming Smith and the Deming Foundation; the Hearst Corporation and Debra Shriver, Vice President; the Law Firm of Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles;Dorignac's & Butch Steadman; the English Speaking Union; Rosemary James, Joseph DeSalvo and Faulkner House, Inc; Randy Fertel and The Ruth U. Fertel Foundation; Arthur & Mary Davis, Quint Davis, and Pam Friedler; Alexa Georges; the Louisiana State Museum; Elizabeth McKinley; Hotel Monteleone; Mr. & Mrs. Hartwig Moss, III; Theodosia M. Nolan, Tia and James Roddy, and Peter Tattersall; Parkside Foundation; Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre; Anne and Ron Pincus; Other Press, a Division of Random House; E. Quinn Peeper and Michael Harold; Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture: Nancy Cater, Editor; the State Library of Louisiana; Judith "Jude" Swenson in memory of her late husband, James W. Swenson, and the Marry Freeman Wisdom Foundation.

2012 William Faulkner -William Wisdom

Creative Writing Competition

Winners, Runners-up & Finalists

Novels & Narrative Non-Fiction

Judged by Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management

2012 William Faulkner -William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition

Winners, Runners-up & Finalists

Novels & Narrative Non-Fiction

Judged by Jeff Kleinman, Folio Literary Management

2012 William Faulkner -William Wisdom

Creative Writing Competition