November 10, 2005 Source: University of Toronto:
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/051110-1796.asp Random House and School of Continuing Studies nurture new literary talent Creative writing students honoured with prizes and chapbook to showcase their work
Nov 10/05
by Sonnet L’Abbé On the eve of the Giller Prize gala, in front of a packed audience spilling from the lecture hall out into the School of Continuing Studies (SCS) main lounge, two storytelling hopefuls received their own taste of literary stardom. Creative writing students Lana Soglasnova and Donald Francis are the 2005 winners of the Random House of Canada Student Award in Writing. "The contest has matured," said Lee Gowan, director of the creative writing program at SCS, as he introduced the readers. "The evidence is in the quality of the work." A half dozen finalists presented excerpts of their writing before second-prize winner Francis read from his story Giant is Not Kansas and first-prize winner Lana Soglasnova read from The Absolute Value Is Always Non-Negative. The Random House Canada Student Award in Writing was launched in 2002 through a $30,000 endowment from the publisher. It honours the best piece of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a current creative writing student at the School for Continuing Studies, who wins $1,000. The winning entries to date have all been short stories. This year, the contest expanded to include a $500 second prize, sponsored by SCS. "It was such a pleasure to get to read these stories and hand out money," said Lara Hinchberger, assistant editor at Doubleday Canada (an imprint of Random House) and one of this year’s judges. "We like to support writers at every stage in their career." Soglasnova, the winner, was delighted, too. "I couldn’t believe it when I found out," she said. "English is not my first language. I thought I had no chance." She was persuaded to enter the competition by her sci-fi/fantasy instructor, even though the only completed story she had was not fantasy but a sober portrait of a dying woman seeking truth in mathematics. "I’m so grateful that the School of Continuing Studies exists so I could finish projects I’d started," she added. "This story definitely took shape through my course." Donald Francis, an auto sales manager and former lawyer, said positive reinforcement is key for beginning writers. "Writing was something I’d wanted to do for a long time," he explained. "Then my wife said, ‘Quit whining and take a course already.’" His story about the harsh social world of a northern mine rocked judges. The contest winners also get their first taste of publication as Random House also produces a chapbook, Two Stories, that showcases their work. Until this year the chapbook has been produced bi-annually, but this year’s addition of the second prize will allow Random House to publish Two Stories every year. Through both the contest and the publishing process, professionals in the industry see students’ work and it puts the writers on the radar of those looking for the next hot up-and-comer. "The quality of the works submitted for the award was impressively high," said Hinchberger. "We’re glad to be able to recognize that. It’s our way of investing in the development of the Canadian writing community."
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