Six Make the Shortlist for our June Writing Contest
We are so pleased to announce that SIX writers have made the shortlist for our June Write Prompt Challenge.
We try to choose images that can take authors in countless directions, and the photo of a barber shop was no different. These writers approached the provided image with wonderfully unique views that were clever and surprising.
Congratulations to Andrea Bernard, Salvatore Difalco, Edmund Fines, Julie Meier, Matt Plyukhin, and Lisa Thomas-Tench — we wish you well as you go on to the final stage of judging!
Andrea Bernard | shortlisted for the story, 'Centre Stage’
Andrea Bernard is a Canadian marine biologist and an avid runner. She lives in the Toronto suburbs and her short fiction has appeared in The Antigonish Review, On Spec, Blank Spaces, and Prairie Fire.
Salvatore Difalco| shortlisted for the story, 'A Night at the Opera dei Pupi'
Salvatore Difalco writes from Toronto, Canada
Edmund Fines | shortlisted for the story, 'Audience Participation’
Edmund FInes is an IT professional living in Toronto with his wife, daughter, and a pug he suspects may be part otter. He recently earned his certificate in creative writing from the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto. He has had short stories published with Zoetic Press, Smoking Pen Press, Shoreline of Infinity, and others. He took first prize in the 2023 Polar Expressions short story contest.
Julie Meier| shortlisted for the story, 'Curtain Call'
Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Julie Meier holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Calgary. Her writing has been published internationally in anthologies, print and on-line journals including Blank Spaces magazine, shortédition, and Syncopation Literary Journal.
She still does cartwheels every time she sees one of her stories in print.
Matt Plyukhin| shortlisted for the story, 'I Forgot to Remember to Forget'
I am a recent university graduate currently living in Vancouver, and heard of Blank Spaces from a friend after I mentioned my interest in getting my writing published. I've been writing for a while now, but only privately. I adore stories that are surreal yet maintain a certain heart by making feel characters developed and real, with some of my favourite writers being Ursula Le Guin, Jennifer Egan, and Roberto Bolaño.
Lisa Thomas-Tench| shortlisted for the story, 'In Camera'
As a ghostwriter, I have written more than 35 books and edited more than 50 in the fields of creative nonfiction and narrative journalism, but have yet to publish my own. Even so, my story 'Bushwife' was the inaugural winner of the Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs Short Story Prize, and my poems have been published in various small magazines.
Watch for our announcement of the top three in the coming weeks!
