![]() ![]() ![]() The title’s meaning shifts as the piece progresses - from the suspect’s original flight from authorities, to her disappearance from the public eye today, to the absence her story - or lack of story - leaves in a people’s collective narrative. ![]() The essay examines how what we choose to remember shapes us as a people - and also the narrator’s coming-to-terms with the fact that this same community delivered her (or him we’re never told). Sweeney said, “This is an outstanding account of a community’s collective forgetting of an event that took place some four decades before. Karen and her husband, Terry, have two grown daughters, Kelsey and Dylan.Īmy Rowland of Princeton, N.J., placed second with her essay, “Looking for Joan Little.” She’ll receive $300. She has a BA in zoology from UNC-Chapel Hill and is pursuing an MFA in creative nonfiction through Chatham University’s low residency program. Karen teaches first and second grade at Friends School of Wilmington. A Raleigh native, she lives in Carolina Beach where her heart still skips a beat when a pelican flies over her house. Linehan is a lifelong naturalist with a deep love for the flora and fauna of North Carolina. (‘When we were children, my sister and I gathered the fragile stamens and placed them in the pink cup of our hands.’) It’s a lyrical, solid read, a wonderful piece of writing, and it gives me pleasure to nominate it as first-place winner.” There are minute details here, such as the description of the 24-hour lifespan of stamens, which end life by ‘transform into red-tipped wands that flutter to the ground.’ These details are threaded to memories that span the life of the narrator, bringing the essay as a whole into a much richer, larger context. “There is a sense here that every phrase and every word is chosen with great intent, and taken together, the work conveys the magnitude of this tree in a voice that is, like the tree itself, both quiet and commanding. “This meditative nature essay’s solid sense of voice, language, and dramatic arc made it a clear standout,” said final judge Kate Sweeney. WINSTON-SALEM-Karen Smith Linehan of Carolina Beach has won the 2016 Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition for her essay, “Magnolia grandiflora.” Karen will receive $1,000, and her essay will be considered for publication in Ecotone. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |