Come listen to a dramatic reading of the top three, community submitted short stories and find out who will receive our grand prize for best short story in 2019!
Part of the Short Story Contest – Writer's Workshop series:
Feb 5, Where to Begin – Aumaine Gruich, 7 pm
Feb 19, Developing Your Characters – Molly MacRae, 7 pm
Mar 5, Creative Writing – Jim O'Brien, 7 pm
Mar 19, Finishing Your Story – Justin Smith, 7 pm
Apr 11, Short Story Contest Awards Ceremony & Reading, 7 pm
More details about the Short Story Contest including story criteria, how to submit your story, and prize information can be found at champaign.org/short-story.
*Participants do not need to attend classes to enter story competition.
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About the judges:
Judy Elmore is the store manager of Jane Addams Book Shop. She has been with the store since 2009 when her in-laws, Susan and Don Elmore, bought the shop from retiring owner Flora Faraci. Judy grew up in Urbana and frequented the twin city libraries as well as the many book shops. She went to the University of Colorado in Boulder and received a degree in Philosophy. She worked at the Urbana Free Library and Horizon Hobby before landing her dream job of running a used book shop. When not at the shop, Judy is at home with husband Trey and their two boys Donnie and Stanley. She tries to read as much as possible with her favorite areas of interest being philosophy, math, fantasy/sci-fi, and historical fiction.
Aumaine Gruich earned a bachelor’s in English from The Ohio State University and is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Illinois. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Court Green, inter|rupture, and as a finalist for Ruminate Magazine’s Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize. She is the recipient of a 2018 Chautauqua Writer’s Center scholarship, holds an editorial assistant role at Ninth Letter, and has taught creative writing to both middle schoolers and adults.
Patricia Hruby Powell, formerly a dancer, storyteller, and librarian, is the author of three Junior Library Guild Selections, Struttin’ With Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong Becomes the First Lady of Jazz (Charlesbridge 2018), CBC Best Book; Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker (Chronicle 2014), which garnered Sibert, Boston Globe Horn Book, and Bologna Ragazzi Honors; and Loving vs. Virginia (Chronicle 2017), Arnold Adoff Poetry Honor. Forthcoming are Lift As You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker (Simon & Schuster 2019) and a Women’s Suffrage project (Chronicle 2020). She has been a mentor for WNDB and SCBWI-MI. talesforallages.com
Main Library
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