Prolific Ripon author Ian Gouge, is joining a distinguished group of UK writers after being selected as the 2022 winner of the Swanwick Short Story Competition.
The sought-after annual literary prize attracts hundreds of entries and his story titled Park’n’Ride caught they eye of the judging panel.
In addition to the prestige of winning the competition, his award includes a week-long place at the famous Swanwick Writers Summer School in Derbyshire.
He will also gain wide exposure through the publication of his story in Writing Magazine.
Ian, who has recently been appointed as the Author in Residence at Ripon Library, told the Stray Ferret:
“This is the first time that I have entered the Swanwick and I was both surprised and delighted when I received an email saying that I had won.”
His 900-word story drew on the experience of overheard conversations on tram journeys that he took while working in the IT industry in Nottinghamshire.
Ian, who is also a publisher and acts as a mentor to fellow creative writers and poets, said:
“If you are a good listener, you will gain a wealth of material that can provide the inspiration for stories and poems that reflect real-life situations.”
His imagination has enabled him to develop characters and storylines from the age of five, when he wrote about a boy who went into space. He also produced accompanying illustrations.
More than 50 years later and with the IT career behind him, Ian has a growing portfolio of published works including six novels, three short story collections, eight poetry and four non-fiction books.
Working with American poets, most of whom live in California, he leads a virtual Transatlantic reading group and has published four international anthologies and a further anthology featuring the poems of Yorkshire-based poets.
With the Swanwick prize now added to his CV, the versatile and experienced author and publisher, has another novel and short story collection in the pipeline and, will continue to help other creative writers to achieve the dream of seeing their name in print.
