A TILEHURST writers group is celebrating the success of three of its members following a short story competition.
Thames Valley Writers Circle (TVWC) holds an annual opportunity for authors to put their best story forward for a short story contest, held each year in memory of the group’s founder Barbara Olive Smith.
The theme for this year’s competition was ‘All That Glisters’, with competition entries marked by the circle’s members, after being displayed incognito on the TVWC website.
The quote, ‘all that glisters is not gold’, was popularized by Shakespeare in his play,The Merchant of Venice.
From a Medieval proverb, it suggests that attractive appearances can be deceptive, and that things which look valuable or true on the surface may not be so.
Alison Trott’s story must have been literary gold, however.
Having already enjoyed success within the group, she won first place in the competition with her short story, The Beauty of Hunting, the tale of a man who hunts, not animals, but women, and of how he becomes unstuck when he discovers he, himself, is being hunted.
Second place was awarded to All That Glisters by Mark Homan-Lisney, about a family from the Caribbean who came to this country to help, and whose grandfather wonders if they are still welcome.
And in third place was Les Cooper’s story, Percy, about a man who claims to have discovered the means of time travel in his rubbish bin.
The Thames Valley Writers Circle meet every Tuesday, alternating between St Joseph’s Church Hall, Tilehurst, and online via Zoom.
For information, visit: thamesvalleywriterscircle.org
