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John K Samson

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John K Samson Comments on “Bridges”

Prism sent a few of John K Samson’s comments to John Threlfall and he passed them on to me:

Judge John K. Samson felt Fisher’s story was “crafted as tightly as an enduring poem, and is full of fuse-like sentences that fizz and explode in unexpected spots. The narrator is pleasingly unclear and unsettling; I’m still not entirely certain who or what it is, though I have some ideas about it I cherish. The slightly opaque parts of it are actually strangely inviting—it is a story that allows the reader to participate and speculate, and there is something playful about it. I guess that makes sense, as it concerns innocence and childhood. I found it remarkably original.”

PRISM international posts 2011 Fiction/Poetry Winners

PRISM says:

This year we received over two-hundred and fifty short stories and over three-hundred and fifty poems! Needless to say, the decisions were difficult and the quality of the work was phenomenal. But after weeks and weeks of deliberation, the editorial board and the editors decided on the final shortlists. The poetry shortlist went to Brad Cran — the poet laureate of Vancouver. And the fiction shortlist went to John K. Samson — musician, fiction enthusiast and publisher.

The winners of 2011 PRISM international poetry and fiction contest are —

Poetry Grand Prize Winner — $1,000
“My Father in his garden, depicted in the woodblock print of the Taishō dynasty” by Pamela Porter

Poetry First Runner-up — $300
“Reincarnation Study 1982″ by Sheryda Warrener

Poetry Second Runner-up — $200
“Pop Quiz” by Scott Ramsay

Fiction Grand Prize Winner — $2,000
“Bridges” by Erin Frances Fisher

Fiction First Runner-up — $200
“Squatters” by Robert James Hicks

Fiction Second Runner-up — $200
“The Ghost” by Mark Jacquemain

Congratulations to all of the winners! Thank you to everyone who entered! And thanks to our judges Brad Cran and John K. Samson! The winning entries and runners-up will be published in the Summer 2011 issue of PRISM (49.4).

ALSO: The New Malahat Review Launches tonight! I’m teaching but it should be a fun thing!

PRISM international contest winner: Erin Frances Fisher

That’s right, I couldn’t wait any longer to let it out. I found out last week that I’ve not only been shortlisted but won PRISM international‘s competition. Expect a formal announcement from them any day now.

The judge for this year was John K. Samson, a member of The Weakerthans and founder of independent publisher Arbeiter Ring Publishing. Besides that, he’s championed both Miriam Toew’s novel A Complicated Kindness and Heather O’Neill’s novel Lullabies for Little Criminals on CBC’s Canada Reads. I am totally ebullient about this; my brain just might float out. Both of those novels are on my shelf and Miriam Toews is reading here in May.

What this means: Erin Frances Fisher is getting published. It also gave me a much needed moral boost, and some concrete place to tie my both hopes of being a real writer, and my buoyant brain.