CHP Gathers Eight Canadian Writers for Evening of Readings and Winnings
Through its quarterly literary arts magazine, Blank Spaces, Chicken House Press sponsored a fiction contest for Canadians that was open to entries from June 1 - August 31, 2022. All stories had to be under 3000 words and written to the theme of Small Town Summer Nights.
Once entries were reduced down to a long list of twenty, a panel of five judges worked together to create a short list of eight. These eight finalist stories were sent off to grand prize judge, Marina L. Reed, CHP author of On the Edge who was tasked with selecting a grand prize story to receive a $200 prize.
On the evening of December 7, a virtual event was held over Zoom with the finalists and judges. We enjoyed readings from each of the eight stories and together got to learn who was taking home the grand prize.
Huge congratulations to Crystal Randall Barnett on her winning story, “Glass Panes.” You can read an excerpt of her story HERE.
All eight stories are to be featured in an anthology releasing in April 2023 and now available for pre-order. Royalties will be paid to each author for every book sold - a great way to encourage them on their creative journeys.
Featuring a foreword by Marina L. Reed (author of On the Edge) and short fiction by Crystal Randall Barnett, Daryl Bruce, Finnian Burnett, Alyssa Bushell, Casey Fehr, Jennifer Moffatt, Noa Padawer-Blatt, and Karen Walker.
To be included in this anthology, writers had to make the decision to dive deep and explore zones of discomfort in order to captivate the reader; in order to bring characters to life; in order to make an impact.
Through eight short stories you will be reminded who you used to be when you yearned for who you wanted to become; you will cower as a child at the hand of an overzealous mother; you will mourn growing pains; you will return home; you will grieve lost loved ones and wrong choices; you will explore and you will be explored.
Don’t just read these stories because they are all Canadian, read them because you want a reprieve, read them because you want to explore a piece of yourself left hidden, read them because they are too good to miss.
Available for KINDLE, KOBO, and AMAZON PRIME.
