First, we wish to thank all who submitted to our Summer Contest. There were more entries than ever before, and we were impressed by the excellence of the writing. We wish to thank our readers, Jennifer Gentile and David Sahl, for joining us in selecting finalists to send to the judge. And we give sincere gratitude to our conscientious, compassionate judge Marjan Kamali, author of the internationally acclaimed new novel, The Lion Women of Tehran.
And now we announce the Winner of our 2024 Contest: Baby Teeth by Sofia Sears.
A lyrical, sensual story tracks the adolescent love between two girls and the shocking violence which separates them and their families. “Occasionally, I think that if June and I had more time to love each other, fully, maybe we would’ve. Once we passed through the rites of garden-variety shame, past puberty, fear, all that inherited bullshit. But it’s more likely that we’d have stayed apart for good, pushed too far apart to ever heal the fault-lines.”
The Runner-up is Whirling by Hannah Onstad
Fabulous descriptive language encapsulates the world of a nearly deaf boy lost in a gorgeous mountainous landscape. The reader feels enclosed in a bright spacious world almost without sound. “The ranger’s words hummed, dipped, and rose. Devon felt their faint vibrations at a
distance—their meaning lost. At school, Devon squirreled away unnoticed. Small for his age,
and with the hearing loss, making friends required extra work, which he wasn’t always willing to
do.”
We announce also our two talented finalists, What You Left Behind by Scott Kauffman
Is an experimental piece that evokes a long, intense relationship primarily through a deceased lover’s clothes.
And Elisha by Tunde Oyebode, a Nigerian writer who lives in London, tells the tale of an African architect segueing his strict upbringing into a toxic, challenging office as he also tries to satisfy his restless, neglected lover.
Also, by a writer in London is our Solstice Editor’s Pick, A Few Small Things by Mark Wagstaff, about the connection between a tough but kind driver for a moving company and a compassionate trans woman who moves out of her gay boyfriend’s apartment after her relationship falls apart following her transition.
You will encounter here issues of identity shaped by gender, country of origin, race and memory. With congratulations to these gifted writers and to all those who submitted their fine pieces.
Lee Hope, Founder, Fiction Editor, and Karen Halil, Associate Fiction Editor
Lee Hope, is the author of the novel Horsefever, a finalist in the Midwest Book Awards. She is a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship, and a Maine Arts Commission Fellowship for Fiction. She has published stories in numerous literary journals such as Witness and The North American Review. She founded and directed a low-residency MFA program and has taught at various universities. She also teaches for Changing Lives Through Literature, which serves people on probation and parole.
