20 Words for 2020 came to life during the Covid-19 lockdown, as part of Charlie Gracie’s work as the 2020 Scriever for the Federation of Writers (Scotland). Entries flew in from members of the Federation, and were judged blind by Charlie.
The winners have been interviewed by Charlie, and are now presented on the Federation website. This gives a chance for the writers to share their story and the spark behind it. it’s also an opportunity for you to get to know these fellow Federation members and their views on the craft of writing.
The six winners are:
Laura Fyfe
Robert M Duncan
Alan McClure
Rona Fitzgerald
Kieron Baird
Ricky Monahan Brown
The winning entries :
The Fall
by Laura T Fyfe
She lifts her son to her shoulders. They watch a helicopter whirring low over the river. Downstream, a body drifts.
Laura T Fyfe suffers from a chronic low-boredom threshold. She supports the development of writers in Scotland through her roles on the boards of the Scottish Writers’ Centre and the Scottish Poetry Library, and by facilitating writing workshops and communities.
Laura writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and loves travelling Scotland on family adventures. As a Buddhist poet, she attempts to explore big ideas in simple ways.
An award-winning non-fiction writer, her books Wellspring and Magpie Mind help writers defeat procrastination and engage with their creativity. She currently designs, co-edits and publishes the Scottish Writers’ Centre Chapbook Series.
See her interview with Charlie Gracie here https://youtu.be/VK4vIp5z4PA
Twins
by Robert M Duncan
She would have been 100.
My twin.
Flu of 1920.
I survived, she didn’t.
Pandemic to pandemic, I miss her.
After publishing some poetry and some horrible horror stories, and a spell writing for Theatre About Glasgow with the Citizens’ Theatre, Robert Duncan spent forty years as a TV producer. In 2018 he won the Wigtown Scots Poetry Competition and was Highly Commended in the main (English) Competition. In 2019 he was runner-up in the Wigtown Scots Poetry Competition and he won it again in 2020. He is particularly interested in reclaiming his Scots language roots.
Watch Robert’s interview with Charlie here https://youtu.be/YiOUwazilVo
Advice
by Alan McClure
“It’s whit ye mak it, son,” he slurs, pished, laid oot flat.
“So,” ah says, “it’s a pig’s arse, aye?”
Alan McClure is a poet, songwriter and novelist based in Galloway. He has published two children’s novels, Callum and the Mountain (2019) and Jack’s Well (2020), both of which have been noted for their originality and delight in language. A primary school teacher by profession, he is currently on creative sabbatical working on musical collaborations, new novels and his storytelling YouTube channel, ‘Tales fae the Shed’. Nature, family and social justice inform all of his work, and he likes a good joke as much as the next man.”
Watch Alan’s interview with Charlie Gracie here https://youtu.be/C5KRiRudZPY
Vigil by
Rona Fitzgerald
Ailsa is at the gate again today, waiting to wave madly. Her Mam says Gran’s probably still resting. Maybe tomorrow!
Rona Fitzgerald was born in Dublin and now lives in Glasgow.
Her poetry and prose are published in print and online. She has been a finalist in a number of poetry competitions in Scotland, France and the US and a finalist in the Lonely Voice short story competition at the Irish Writers centre.
Highlights include featured poet in the Stinging Fly 2011, Aiblins: New Scottish Political Poetry 2016, Oxford Poetry XVI.iii Winter 2016-17. Resurrection of a Sunflower, Pski’s Porch 2017. The Passage Between, Issue 1 Spring 2018. Poems for Grenfell Tower, Onslaught Press 2018, #Me Too, Fair Acre Press, 2018.
Recent publication: Issue 39 September 2019, Blue Nib Digital Edition June 2020, five short essay pieces on the Write Life section of the Blue Nib. In July 2020 she was one of the winners of the Federation of Writers short story competition.
Here is a link to the interview between Rona Fitzgerald and Charlie Gracie
The Button
by Kieron Baird
Brian wanted to press the button. Big, red, shiny…he couldn’t resist. It was the last thing
Brian ever did.
Kieron P. Baird is a published writer, on a personal journey of self-discovery and improved
mental well-being.
Kieron P. Baird is a published writer, on a personal journey of self-discovery and improved
mental well-being.
His work has appeared in both print and online. Recent examples include: Speculative Books
– The Centenary Collection, Visual Verse, StAnza, Celtic Nations Magazine and Flora
Fiction – Literary Magazine.
His work has appeared in both print and online. Recent examples include: Speculative Books
– The Centenary Collection, Visual Verse, StAnza, Celtic Nations Magazine and Flora
Fiction – Literary Magazine.
Kieron has a First-Class Honours Degree in Animal Biology and lives in Central Scotland.
Read his interview with Charlie Gracie here.https://federationofwritersscotland.com/20-words-for-2020-2/
| Black Heart by Ricky Monahan Brown |
| Free coffee shop tattoos. You said, ‘Let’s get them – I’m black-hearted! They’re only temporary.’ But then I inked mine in. |
Ricky Monahan Brown is a writer working across a number of disciplines, including prose fiction and narrative non-fiction, scriptwriting and spoken word. After suffering a massive haemorrhagic stroke in 2012, with doctors giving him a slim chance of a good outcome, he wrote a memoir based around his recovery which was one of The Scotsman’s Scottish Books of 2019 (Stroke, Sandstone Press).
The night of live literature and music Ricky co-founded and curates – Interrobang‽ – won the 2017 Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Night in Britain. Ricky lives in Edinburgh with his wife and their son. He is currently completing a collection of short speculative fictions and working on a feature film script set in nineteenth century Sutherland.
Watch his interview with Charlie here
