Barry Hannah
I learned on Facebook tonight, March 1st, 2010, that Barry Hannah died. I have no confirmation officially–edit in, look here for confirmation– but I have no reason to disbelieve my FB acquaintances, either. After talking it out and over with my lovely and beautiful–and let’s not forget smart–wife, here’s what we want to do. FCAC and Heather Sullivan will provide a packet of prizes for a competition in Barry Hannah’s honor. I’ll think of a good name for it so it might even make the competition vita-worthy, like The Barry Hannah Memorial Competition.
- First prize: packet of Hannah books, Airships, Ray, Geronimo Rex, a $25.00 gift card from Barnes & Noble
- Second prize: Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction and my book Breaking it Down.
- Third prize: Breaking it Down
- All placing stories will be published in Fried Chicken and Coffee, and I reserve the right to choose others for publication outside the competition parameters, if I feel so motivated.
Here are the guidelines:
- stories must be between 2000 and 4000 words; This means 4001 is unacceptable, as is 1999.
- stories must be sent to this email address: hannahmemorialcomp@gmail.com
- stories must be sent before midnight on Wednesday March 31st
- stories must be in MS-Word or rich text format and have no name or identifying marks (please check your headers and edit-tracking features) within them
- finally and most importantly, sentence by sentence, Barry Hannah was one of our best. Be sure your story embodies his craftsmanship, especially the art of the pungent and revelatory single sentence.
- there is no submission or reading fee.
Heather will render the stories anonymous if they are not already, pass them on to me and I will pick a winner. Prizes will be sent in the second week of April or sooner. Ask questions in the comments section. This post will also appear as a static page on the site, so you can direct people more effectively if you share the news.
THE BARRY HANNAH MEMORIAL COMPETITION 2010 IS OVER; THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST.