Short story competition opens to UWI students

The Gloria Lyn Foundation, in association with the Department of Literatures in English at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Mona campus, Esirom, and Trees That Feed Foundation, is now calling for entries to the 2022 Joan McLaughlin Short Story Competition.

Each entry may be a fictional or autobiographical story or modern folk tale of up to 3,500 words featuring the breadfruit or the breadfruit tree.

Written in Word’s Times New Romans 12-point text and in 1.5 space, it is to be sent to story@treesthatfeed.org, under a cover page that includes the entrant’s full legal name, address, telephone number, associated campus, UWI identification number, the name of the competition and title of the story.

The first prize is US$100 plus the entry fee for participation in the Ubud International Writers and Readers Festival, to be held in October 2022 and 10 days accommodation at Rumah Sangai Villa in Ubud, Bali, if the winner is attending in-person. The winner is expected to stand the cost of travelling and acquiring a visa. The second-place winner will receive US$100, while four runners-up will pocket US$50 each. Winning entries may be published in Trees That Feed’s online platforms and publications.

INSPIRING FORMER EDUCATORS

This short story competition is in honour of two inspiring former UWI educators who loved the written word. Joan McLaughlin and Gloria Lyn attended The UWI Mona when they were mature students. McLaughlin went in 1962, and became a lecturer who taught Lyn in 1966. Lyn also went on to become a lecturer at The UWI. They were particularly passionate about Jamaican folklore and were avid promoters of English literature.

Gloria Lyn, nee Chen-See,was born in Jamaica to Chinese migrants in Springfield, St Elizabeth, on April 2, 1930. She evolved from being a shopkeeper’s daughter in rural Jamaica to an academic specialising in 17th-century renaissance poetry.

On the way to completing a special honours degree in English literature at The UWI Mona campus, which she obtained in 1970, Lyn got the first-year prize. “Her fears that she would be behind as a mature student disappeared as the language of literature came back even after reading nursery rhymes and fairy tales for 15 years and raising four children,” Cathy Lyn, daughter of Gloria Lyn and co-founder of the Gloria Lyn Memorial Fund, told The Gleaner.

Lyn subsequently won a Caribbean International Development Agency (CIDA) scholarship to do her master’s degree at the University of Toronto, after which she lectured at The UWI for 20 years. She also won a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue her PhD at the Bunting Institute, which is part of Radcliffe. That university’s administration modified the terms of this scholarship for Lyn as she was slightly out of the age range allowed, but was considered worthy of the award. Unfortunately, Lyn was not able to complete her studies because of familial matters.

“She was a natural academic, but her children were always priority. Teaching was Gloria’s love as she researched her lectures to give her best to the students. Her specialty was 17th-century Renaissance poetry, but she taught across the whole spectrum,” Cathy Lyn told The Gleaner.

“Both women have passed on, but memories of them linger as literature transforms lives,” she said. The competition is open to all current and past UWI students over the age of 18, and less than age 30 on January 1, 2021. It closes on April 1, 2022, and the winner will be announced on May 1.