Winners announced for the Festival writing competition
By Andrew Stuck
At the Festival WRITE ABOUT TREES finale, the winners and runners-up in the Festival writing competition were announced.
Winning the poetry prize was M. L. Grieve for her “Mama Has Hair of Silver Green leaves”, a poem inspired by adoption trauma that has dominated her life. “Not only did I learn the ways of a functional family through my relationship with nature, she also healed my engrained wounds. Willow is my kindred spirit, my kin, my mother and this poem of healing had to be about her.” On the announcement, M.L Grieve wrote "Trees and poetry, my two loves and I get to combine them. I’m overwhelmed and very happy."
Winning the prose prize was Joanna Wolfarth for her story “The Survivor Tree” inspired by a real pear tree to which she become very attached during the pandemic. “Its awkward placement, suggests it predates other developments here. I did some research into pear trees in myths and legends. And the idea of this little, brittle tree potentially spanning different lifespans led to this story.”
On learning of her win, Joanna wrote “I'd like to thank the other writers, as well as the festival team and judges. I'm very proud to have my work published alongside such talented authors. And I'm delighted to have the opportunity to work more closely with the Urban Tree Festival in the coming year.”
Both winners become Writers-in-Residence for the Urban Tree Festival 2023 and receive artwork created by illustrator and publisher Alban Low, whose work appears in CANOPY a beautifully illustrated limited edition 24 page chapbook, that includes the competition’s shortlisted poems and stories.
Runners-up in each category were Sally Duffin for her poem “Medicine Woods” and Rosaleen Lynch with her story “The Fish Tank Mangroves”. Each receive artwork by Alban as their prize.
The 2022 Urban Tree Festival writing competition had a theme of “Healing Trees” chosen by Chris Cuninghame and Sarah Wheeler, the 2021 competition winners. Submissions had to be of 250 words or under. The competition attracted more than 100+ entries, a Top 24 were selected and you can read them here, while the shortlisted 12 poems and stories are also published in CANOPY.
CANOPY 2022
Purchase your copy of the beautifully illustrated chapbook anthology for just £4.99 + p&p from our shop
March the authors of the shortlisted pieces on our Youtube channel Search for WRITE ABOUT TREES 2022