A competitive talent search open to all writing in English, the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition is for previously unpublished work. Entries are accepted in seven categories: Novel, Novella, Novel-in-Progress, Short Story, Essay, Poetry, and Short Story by a High School Student. Overall goals of the competition are to seek out new, talented writers and assist them in finding literary agents and, ultimately, publishers for their work.

The 2011 competition's opening date was January 1, 2011. The competition closed on May 15.

2011 winners will be formally presented at the annual meeting of the Faulkner Society, Faulkner for All! during Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans, November 9 - 13. Their work will be published in the 2012 edition of The Double Dealer. We expect now
to go live with the on-line journal concurrent with Words & Music, 2011 and, when we go live, work of winners from 2007-2010 will be featured, as the last hard copy of The Double Dealer was published in 2007, before 2007 winners and runners-up were announced. The 2012 edition will be published concurrent with Words & Music, 2012.

We will begin accepting entries for the 2012 competition on January 1, 2012. The deadline for 2012 will be May 1. For information on the 2012 competition, including cateories, prizes, and guidelines,CLICK HERE! For an entry form for the 2012 competition, CLICK HERE!

Novel

In the novel category, the Society received 292 entries. This means that those who placed in the semi-finalist category were in the top 50 per cent of entries in the category; those who place on the long list for novel select were in the top 35 per cent; those on the she short list placed in the top 15 per cent. We had an extraordinary number of novels this year which
deserve publication with minor tweaking.

We had so much good work submitted in the novel category this year that we added a new placement level between "Short List" and "Semi-Finalists." That level is: "Long List."

The novels selected as finalists are all quite different in subject matter and approach. Two are historical novels, one is about love, another is about aging and family, another is about an urban crime and vulnerability, another is about the disappearing core of American life, small towns, and the unique characters of Small Town, America. Each author has taken an an imaginative approach to the subject matter and created characters to whom the reader is drawn. The finalists have been submitted to Will Murphy, Final Round judge, for selection of a winner and runners-up.

JUDGE:

Will Murphy is an Executive Editor at Random House, where he has worked for six years. Previously, he was a senior editor at the University of Minnesota Press, and the literary editor at the University of California Press in Berkeley. Will was recently was named one of "50 Under 40," who matter in publishing by Publishers Weekly. Murphy has become known for editing books that matter, such as the powerful Finn by Jon Clinch and the beautiful work by Salman Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence; as well as The Second World: Enemies and Influence in the New Global Order by Parag Khanna.

SHORT LIST
Aftermath, Laura Brlodie, Lexington, VA
All Jeweled Chokers, Helen Argers, Newark, NJ
Angels in the House, Marylee MacDonald,  Tempe, AZ
Black Pearl, Arthur Nevis, Steamboat Springs, CO
Blinding Light, John Wallbank, Venice, CA
Cooper’s War, Tim Smith, Paris, France
Don’t Cry Little Monster, Helen Krieger, New Orleans, LA
Flambeau, T. J. Fisher, New Orleans, LA
Habit, Adam Hungerford, Fairfax, VA
How to Make Moonshine, Jana Sasser, Edisto Island, SC
In the Evening, In the Morning, A. J. Harman,  Arlington, VA
Jerusalem as a Second Language, Rochelle Distelheim, Highland Park, IL
Life Between Dreams, Tena Russ,  Riverwoods, IL
Lucy, William Coles,  Salt Lake City, UT
Memories of the Dust, Robert Wood,  Chicago, IL
No, Heather Aimee O'Neill, Brooklyn, NY
Oleanna, Julie K. Rose, San Jose, CA
Playground, Edward Rowley, Glen Ridge, NJ
Practice Dying, Rachel Stolzman Gullo,  Brooklyn, NY
Red Dirt, Joe Samuel Starnes, Philadelphia, PA
Rich, Martha L. Burns, La Luz, NM
Sea Level, Nancy Kilgore, Post Mills, VT
Stained Glass, Diane Manning, Houston, TX
The Edgartown Portraits, Richard Weber, Carouge, Switzerland
The Journal of Eva Hathaway, Maryanne D’Agincourt, Westwood, MA
The Patriot Joe Morton, Devault, Michael, Monroe, LA
The Principles of Mining, Sharon Thatcher & Wayland Stallard
The Resurrection of Jonathan Brady, Robert Raymer,  Sarawak, Malaysia
This is Squalorville, Brian Schneider,  St. Helen, MI
Victor’s Journals, Philip Erickson, St. Paul, MN
Warming Up, Mary Hutchins Reed,  Chicago, IL
Watershed, Laura Lane McNeal, New Orleans, LA
Westminster, Diane Manning, Houston, TX

LONG LIST
Alexis Renalta-Manheim’s Semi-permeable, Nearly-perfect Skin, Nicole Walker, Flagstaff, AZ
Backbending Days, Sarah Stark,  Santa Fe, NM
Billie, Cher Bibler, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
Birds of Paradise, Sabrina Canfield, New Orleans, LA
Chasing Perfection, Jeremy Banks, Lake Providence, LA
Center of Gravity, Laura Reese, Mobile, AL
Coronado’s Castle, Craig Collins, Santa Rosa,  CA
Fading Illusions, Tom Welsh, Xenia, OH
Faithful, Kaye Park Hinkley, Dothan, AL
Garbo’s Last Stand,  Jon James Miller, Oakland, CA
Grunge, Mary Rowen, Arlington, MA
Hannah Delivered, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, MN
Hannah’s Left Hook, Brian McKeown, Worcester, MA
Heroes and Villains, Thomas Sabino,  Savannah, GA
Jimmy the Ghost, Peter Orr, New Orleans, LA
Kites, Quite Tall, Tad Bartlett of New Orleans, La & J. Ed. Marston,  Chatanooga, TN
Kudzu Rising, Mary Brent Cantarutti, San Rafael, CA
Lords of an Empty Land, Randy Denmon, Monroe, LA
Lost in Montreal, Gay Walley,  New York, NY
Markers, Mary Hutchins Reed,  Chicago, IL
Mend, Jorge Díaz, Atlanta, GA
Monstropocalypse, Mark Spitzer, Conway, AR
Fantasy Rocked Reality, Kiras Janene Holt, Wimberly, TX
Prayers for the Unusual, Jennifer Clement,  New York, NY
Saluting the Sun, Mary Hutchins Reed,  Chicago, IL
Silence the Bird, Silence the Keeper, Christopher David Rosales, Boulder, CO
Sitka Annie, Richard Newell Smith, Jupiter, FL
Still Life With Coyote, Marjorie Davis, Iowa City, IA
Spilled Milk, Krista Wilson,  Kennesaw, GA
Strumming the Banjo Moon, Joyce Keller Walsh,  Lakeville, MA
The Breaking of Things, Emily Cogburn, Baton Rouge, LA
The Dandelion Sutra, Michael Ditchfield, Edgartown, MA
The Dead Boy, Arthur Nevis,  Steamboat Springs, CO
The Girl Behind Glass, Geoff Schutt, Gaithersburg, MD
The Glass Artist, Frank Richardson,  Friendswood, TX
The Governor, Katherine Clark, Pensacola, FL
The Pope’s Assassin, Jack Tittle, New Orleans, LA
The Surgeon's Wife, William Coles, Salt Lake City, UT
The Theater of California, Lawrence Coates, Bowling Green, OH
The War Less Civil, Joseph Lewis Heil, Muskego, WI
Toward Transgression, Beth Herstein, New York, NY
Under the Pomegranate Tree, Aneela Shuja, Kenner, LA

For Semi-Finalists, Click Here!

Novella

The Society received 123 entries, somewhat fewer than usual. Preliminary round judges
commented that many of those rejected as finalists were too long and unwieldy for the novella format and recommended that the authors consider streamlining the story line and either drastically editing for length or rewrite as a novel. The final judge last year, National Book Award winner Julia Glass, made the same comment about some of the finalists last year and in response to her comments the Socity reduced the maximum allowable words. Some writers took the hint, others definitely did not. We likely will reduce the maximum allowable words again for the 2012 competition. Other critical comments related to flawed openings and closings, overcomplicated structure with too many plot lines for the novella format, and worn out subject matter with nothing new to offer the reader. Overall, preliminary judges were complimentary about writing skill exhibited but highly critical of the abundance of sloppy editing exhibited in the entries.

JUDGE:
Elise Blackwell is the author of the novels
The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish, Hunger,
and Grub. Her newest novel, published in 2010, is An Unfinished Score, which revolves around classical music and performing artists. Her books have been selected for numerous "best of the year" lists, including the
Los Angeles Times, Sydney Morning Herald, and Kirkus. Her short stories and criticism have appeared in Witness,Topic, Seed, Global City Review, and Quick Fiction.
A native of Louisiana and a graduate of LSU,
Elise lives in Columbia, S. C., where she is director of the MFA/CreativeWriting Program at the University of South Carolina, one of the best MFA programs in the country.
For more on Elise and here work, Click Here!

FINALISTS:

After Freddie Left
A Madman in the House
Davi-Kahn
Diary of a Darling
Ithaka
Life on Hold
Love in Foreign Lands
Masters of Demise
Millburn
My Father's Last Mistress
Newcomers
O Fortunata
Sisters
The Beehive
The Mighty Cook Lafitte

SHORT LIST
All Smiling, Diana Shahmoon, Remsenberg, NY
Body 571: An Enigma of the Eastland Disaster, Jeanette Hacker, Highland, IN
Charlie The Wonder Cat, C. Robert Holloway, New Orleans, LA
Cherry Colored Summer, Tina Renee Wiley, Albertville, Al
Glimpses of Gauguin, Maryanne D'Agincourt, Westwood, MA
Hostage to Fortune, E. M. Schorb, Mooresville, NC
Hot on the Trail: The Adventures of Lowland Jak, Joseph J. Valitchka, Greer, SC
Jota, Arthur Nevis, Steamboat Springs, Co
Newborn, Agustín Maes, Berkley, CA
No More Tears, Tina Hayes, Dixon, KY
Railroad Man, Nancy Brock, Columbia, SC
State of Mind, James McCallister, Columbia, SC
The Inner Music, Mal King, Santa Paula, CA
The Lives of the Apostates, Eric O. Scott, St. Louis, MO
The Poison Tree, Michael Maschio, New York, NY
The Virginal Grip, Paul Negri, Clifton, NJ
War & Sex, Morty Shallman, Valley Village, CA
Wash and Wear, Bruce Douglas Reeves, Berkeley, CA

For Semi-Finalists, Click Here!

Novel-in-Progress

As with the novel category, we have a treasure trove of riches in the Novel-in-Progress
category. We received 268 entries and these entries included more manuscripts which come close to our "Ready for Publication" standard. The list of finalists below may not be complete. While those listed are indeed finalists, one of our preliminary judges had not completed a group which could include additional finalists. Several manuscripts were returned because of file corruption and this group could also include one or more finalists. So, check this list again in about a week. With regard to those who did not place well, it should be noted that preliminary round judges, again, were "appalled" by the level of sloppy editing. A major defect in many of the entries for this category was either the lack of the required synopsis or a badly written synopsis. The guidelines clearly state a one-page synopsis. One writer gave us a six-page, single-spaced outline and we guarantee the writer that agents and editors will not wade through it to read the excerpt. For those of you who plan to enter this category again, it is important for you to remember that a good synopsis is part of the judging process. It needs to set the stage for your excerpt. Those named finalists have been sent to Jeff Kleinman for selection of winner and runners-up so that he can get a head start on the enormous amount of reading involved. He will make his final decision after any additional finalists are submitted.

JUDGE:
Jeff Kleinman is a literary agent, intellectual property attorney, and founding partner of Folio Literary Management, LLC, a New York literary agency which works with all of the major U.S. publishers (and, through subagents) with most international publishers.  He’s a graduate of Case Western Reserve University (J.D.), the University of Chicago (M.A., Italian), and the University of Virginia (B.A. with High Distinction in English).  As an agent, Jeff feels privileged to have the chance to learn an incredibly variety of new subjects, meet an extraordinary range of people, and feel, at the end of the day, that he’s helped to build something – a wonderful book, perhaps, or an author’s career.  His authors include Garth Stein, Robert Hicks, Charles Shields, Bruce Watson, Dean Faulkner Wells, Neil White, and Philip Gerard. Nonfiction: especially narrative nonfiction with a historical bent, but also memoir, health, parenting, aging, nature, pets, how-to, nature, science, politics, military, espionage, equestrian, biography. Fiction: very well-written, character-driven novels; some suspense, thrillers; otherwise mainstream commercial and literary fiction.  No: children’s, romance, mysteries, westerns, poetry, or screenplays, novels about serial killers, suicide, or children in peril (kidnapped, killed, raped, etc.).

FINALISTS

African Son
Bailout
Bondage
Caught in the Storm
Darwin
Discipline the Devil's Country
Falling
Hannah Delivered
How to Make Moonshine
Judah P
Lincoln on the Water
Matter of Midwinter
Men of The Earth
Motion of Souls
One Good Mamma Bone
Shanghai Snag
Tears of the Foot Guard
The Amazing Life and Loves of Billy Joe Roe
The Invention of Violet
The Missionary’s Wife
The Principles of Mining
The Sound of Falling Darkness
This is Squalorville
The Thread
Waiting for Something Else
White Flies

SHORT LIST
A Luscious Illumination, Unity Barry, San Francisco, CA
American Vigilante, Owen Goodwyne, Tallahassee, FL
A Prisoner of Peace, David Kelleher, McComb, MS
Big Chicken, Kim Bradley, St. Augustine, FL
By Reason of Sorrow, Kimberly Swise, Chicago, IL
Cherry Bomb, Susan Cushman, Memphis, TN
Ciao, Baby, Leigh Stevenson, Columbia, SC
City of Holy Faith, Joe Dwyer, Sacramento, CA
Dawn in the Evening, Jennifer Levasseur, Albert Park, Victoria, Australia
Delta Babies, Natasha Peterson, Vienna, VA
Elegy for the Lost City, Johnny Goldstein, St. Louis, MO
Family Matters, Perry Glasser, Haverhill, MA
Fantasy Rocked Reality, Kira Janene Holt, Wimberly, TX
Flasher, Susan Levi Wallach, Columbia, SC
Fish Out of Water, Casey Lefante, New Orleans, LA
Hampton Roads,Tom Honea, Fairview, NC
Harlow, David Armand, Hammond, LA
Hitchhiking in the Graveyard, Brian Kingheloe, Brooklyn, NY
Just Kate, Ellen T. McKnight, Riverwoods, IL
Kat Vespucci and the Renegade Province, Ingrid Anders, Washington, DC
Keeping Hope, Renee Brown, Lexington, NC
Life During the Plague Years, Missy Wilkinson, New Orleans, LA
Lulu, Adrienne Celt, Tempe, AZ
Magician's Eyes, Constance Adler, New Orleans, LA
Moonflower and the Moth, Jana Sasser, Edisto Island, SC
Motion of Souls, James Claffey, Santa Barbara, CA
Nine Lives, Cheryl M. Schleuss, Covington, LA
Quantrill's Raiders, Deborah Morgan, Cheyenne, WY
Set, Chrys Darkwater, New Orleans, LA
The Cane Press, Nancy Brock, Columbia, SC
The Dark Sheperd, Jeremy Banks, Lake Providence, LA
The Emperor's Will, Marc Royston, Palm Springs, CA
The Girl in the Bathtub, Robert Raymer, Sarawak, Malaysia
The Grim King, Christian Livermore, Cold Spring, NY
The Keystone Guardian, Rachel Wilson, New Orleans, LA
The Kingdom, Jennifer Moffett, Ocean Springs, MS
The Beholder, James Knight, Cocoa Beach, FL
The Virgin Falcon, Candi Sary, Costa Mesa, CA
To The Place Where They Go, Sabrina Canfield, New Orleans, LA
Unforgettable, Claire Applewhite, St. Louis, MO
Vespers, Bay St. Louis, MS
Welcome to My Lucky Life, Geoff Schutt, Gaithersburg, MD

JUDGE:

Rosemary Daniell's book Secrets of the Zona Rosa: How Writing (and Sisterhood) Can Change Women's Lives, was published by Henry Holt and Company, 2006 to great acclaim. Known as one of the best writing coaches in the country, Rosemary is the founder of Zona Rosa, the series of creative writing workshops she has led for 25 years in Savannah, Atlanta, Charleston, and other cities (including New Orleans), as well as in Europe. Her first book on Zona Rosa, The Woman Who Spilled Words All Over Herself: Writing and Living the Zona Rosa Way, was published by Faber & Faber in 1997. Daniell's revolutionary memoir, Fatal Flowers: On Sin, Sex and Suicide in the Deep South (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1980; Henry Holt & Company, 1989; Hill Street Press, 1999) won the 1999 Palimpsest Prize for a most-requested out-of-print book, and was re-issued that year. Along with her second memoir, Sleeping with Soldiers (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1984), Fatal Flowers was a forerunner of the current memoir trend. She is the author of four other books of poetry and prose. Among her many awards are two N.E.A. Fellowships in creative writing, one in in poetry, another in fiction. For more on Ms. Daniell and her work, Click Here!

FINALISTS:

A Link to Life
Bird Dog
Bombs, Spirits, and Slow, Sensual Dances
Cousin de la Louisiane
In Apartment 102
Neanderthal in C Minor
Ode to a Dropped "R"
Ray
Return to Civilization
School Days
The Demise of Quiet
The Man Who Was Not My Grandfather
Trying Once Again
Unburnable
When Dreams Turn Vivid

SHORT LIST

A Hole in My Soul, Regina Y. Leverrier, MD, Grand Junction, CO
Barack Obama Made a Liar Out of Me, Nefertiti Austin, Beverly Hills, CA
Cool, Clean, Clear Water, Mary Kuykendall-Weber, Middle Grove, NY
Cuban Cultural Exchange, Ken Mask, Lafayette, LA
Sweet Revenge, Kristi Porter, Muskegon, MI
Fishing With My Father, Geoff Schutt, Gaithersburg, MD
Invisible, Pat Gallant, New York, NY
Larry, Pat Gallant, New York, NY
Of Love and Monkeys, Heather Corrigan, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Of Straw-Haired Girls and Stilled Angels, Steve Wise, Columbia, MO
Parsing the Maze, Patrick Bryant, Irmo, SC
Roadworthy Folk, Neil Kroetsch, Cowansville, Quebec, Canada
Short Railings and Long Island Iced Teas, Caren Gallimore, Christianburg, VA
Spring Sparks Sure Shot, Sabrina Canfield, New Orleans, LA
Stronger, Mary Bradshaw, Flowood, MS
Telling Time, Nancy Brandwein, New York, NY
The Babysitter, Hayley Kriscer, Glen Ridge, NJ
The Grasshopper Versus the Elephant, Franklin Cox, Atlanta, GA
The Renaissance of Literary Fiction: Join the Revolution, William Coles, Salt Lake City, UT
The Venetian, Kat Varn, Charleston, SC
Weight Chases Me, Kira Janene Holt, Wimberley, TX
Why I Still Travel to the Wild, Ann Sigmon, Lafayette, CA

For Semi-Finalists, Click Here!

FINALISTS:

Absence
A Lullaby for Kjerstin
An Absence of Crocodiles:An Antiphon for Two Choirs
Condolences
evermore, mr. Poe
Jimmy The Bass Player’s Restaurant Reviews
Last Dinner at Louie’s with Levis
Mania
My Women
new century/old century, three acts
No Waterline
Materialistic Virtues
Nuit Blanche
Plastic Cup Pantoum
Spirit Vessels
The Homeless Trilogy
The Passsion of Louis Congo
The Whirlwind Sessions
Treat Yourself to the Magnificent Enchantment
Voyage of the Limit Perfected Fish

 SHORT LIST:

Ambition, Michael Townsend, Burlington, VT
Aneyoshi, Pat Gallant, New York, NY
Antediluvian, James Thurston Davis, Chicago, IL
Beneath the Weeping Cherry, Amy Trussell, Santa Rosa, CA
Childhood, Faith Kelleher, Ocean Springs, MS
Citizen Kane, Chris Lambert, Caral Fulton, OH
Dead Man Talking, Helen Argers, Newark, NJ
Genesis, Matthew Draughter, New Orleans, LA
Hibiscus Moon, Margaret J. Edwards, Charleston, SC
I Am The Monster, Eric Mitchell Brown, Austin, TX
I like to watch the sea meet the sand, Andrew Gregory Krzak, New Lenox, IL
Joining Calvino’s Baron in the Trees, Nancy Dafoe, Homer, NY
Madame Bovary's Other Daughter, Susan Terris, San Francisco, CA
Meredith, Vicki Siska, Fort Collins, CO
Nada, Colwell Snell, Salt Lake City, UT
Ode to a Sun Day Super, Paige Valente, New Orleans, LA
Our Glass, Pat Gallant, New York, NY
Rummage, Patrick Bryant, Irmo, SC
Shape Shifter, Peggy Hall, Miami, FL
Still Life With Lemon, James P. Bourey, Dover, DE
Stunned, Stella Morrow, Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada
The Captive Queen, Reem Hisham Hijjawi, Long Beach, CA
The Deep End, Claire Dixon, Baton Rouge, LA
The Golden Fowl & The Missing String, Liv Evensen, Oslo, Norway
The Siren and the Bachelor of Arts, Harley Barks, Slidell, LA
View from the Cliff, Larkin Edwin Greer, New York, NY

Short Story by a High School Student

JUDGE

FINALISTS

SHORT LIST