WRITE ON: Susan Mackie, Judy Nunn and Bruce Venables.
POWER OF THE PEN: Mark Greenwood, Mark Sangmeister, Heather Locke and Jeannette Sangmeister.
ARTS LOVERS: Danielle Haigh and Arts Margaret River president Anne Shepherdson.
STORY PEOPLE: Short story competition South West winner Bernice Barry, judge Richard Rossiter and Margaret River Press publisher Caroline Wood.
aCHEERS: Maja Plante and Zona Richards.
LITERATURE lovers thronged to Margaret River over the weekend for the fourth Margaret River Readers & Writers Festival.
The festival launch at the Margaret River Cultural Centre on Friday night was attended by guests including authors Judy Nunn and Bruce Venables, Amanda Curtin, Frane Lessac and Mark Greenwood.
Witchcliffe’s Bernice Barry was announced the winner in the South West writer category of the inaugural Margaret River Short Story Competition, with a tale about a farmer’s thoughtful musings about his life, entitled Mornings Like This.
Ms Barry wins $250 and her story has been included in a published collection of the best 11 entries from the competition, Things That are Found in Trees and Other Stories, launched on Saturday.
Arts Margaret River received 191 entries for the competition from all over Australia and the judges, Associate Professor Rossiter, Nicole Sinclair and Robert Wood, were impressed by the high quality of the entries.
The title story and winner of the competition, Things That Are Found in Trees, was written by Victorian author Beverley Lello.
The second prize winner was Sydney’s Christine Piper, with her story Stranded.
Copies of Things That are Found in Trees and Other Stories are available for $13.99 from Arts Margaret River and Margaret River Press.
They anticipate launching the 2013 competition later this year.