Glass Mountain fans, readers, and artists,
It’s been a while since we last saw each other! A lot has happened since the last blog post—a few readings, new staff additions, and the opening (and conclusion!) of our annual Poetry & Prose contest!
As usual, there are three categories: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. This year, the contest was judged by Peter Turchi, Antonya Nelson, and Hayan Charara, respectively. All three of our esteemed judges teach at the University of Houston, and had a few words to say about each winner and runner-up:
Fiction
Winner: “Love: An Investigation” by Arthur Pike
Peter Turchi said, “‘Love: An Investigation’ is clearly a playful homage to the noir tradition, vivid in detail, witty in its observations.”
Runner-up: “Drive” by Laura Parker
Nonfiction
Winner: “Threshold” by Susanna Space
Toni Nelson said, “This is a stirring piece of prose that illuminates, through highly nuanced attention to sensory details, the distilled elegiac moment of love and light in appreciation of a mother.”
Runner-up: “What Do You Do With All The Old Stuff?” by Meredith Melville
Toni Nelson said, “This is a comic meditation on the meaning of ‘stuff,’ bestowing upon the ordinary the qualities of grail-like importance.”
Poetry
Winner: “Like Her” by Bri Griffith
Hayan Charara said, “In a relatively small amount of space, ‘Like Her’ creates an authentic world populated with authentic people—more than this, and no doubt because of it the poem rings true with insight that it deeply felt and carefully earned.”
Runner-up: “José Bearvo” by Juliane Tran*
Hayan Charara said, “‘José Bearvo’ accomplishes one of poetry’s most difficult tasks: writing a funny poem that isn’t just for laughs. The turn it makes, from not taking itself seriously to a self- and social reflection, surprises and delivers.”
Thank you to everyone who submitted to the contest. Read the winning submissions in volume 20 of Glass Mountain, launching April 2018.
*Scrutinizing readers may have noticed that Juliane Tran is also listed on this website as a member of Glass Mountain’s staff. Juliane applied to join the staff over a month after the piece she submitted was chosen to be a finalist for the contest. Since our inception, Glass Mountain has maintained a strict rule against staff submitting to the magazine in order to maintain artistic integrity. The poem stands on its own merit.
