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| The short story contest is to help raise money for a statue of Alan Sillitoe. |
It was on 25th April last year that Alan Sillitoe died. The Nottingham born author’s novels and short stories earned him world-wide recognition, but he retained his lifelong connection to his home town, and in 2008 he received the Freedom of the City of Nottingham.
In order to confirm his place in the City’s history, a committee was formed to raise funds for the commissioning of a statue of Alan. This will cost in the region of £50,000, which we hope will be raised over the next two years.
Among several fund-raising projects planned by the committee is a short story competition, which is open to anyone living or working in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Lincolnshire. The subject of the story is: ‘What would Arthur Seaton be like in 2011?’ Anyone who has read Alan Sillitoe’s book Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, or seen the film of the book, which starred Albert Finney as the headstrong anti-hero Arthur Seaton, will know the kind of lad Arthur was in 1958, when he was created. All you have to do is to imagine him as he would be now. How would he use (or abuse) the internet, credit cards or mobile phones? Pubs have changed since the 1950s when Arthur frequented them to get drunk and pick up girls, and the cycle factory where he worked is long gone – so what would he do instead to earn his beer money? We had a go at imagining this here at LeftLion a while ago...
Here’s a little teaser from the book to get you thinking...
“For it was Saturday night, the best and bingiest glad-time of the week, one of the fifty-two holidays in the slow-turning Big Wheel of the year, a violent preamble to a prostate Sabbath. Piled-up passions were exploded on Saturday night, and the effect of a week’s monotonous graft in the factory was swilled out of your system in a burst of goodwill. You followed the motto of ‘be drunk and be happy’, kept your crafty arms around female waists, and felt the beer going beneficially down into the elastic capacity of your guts.”
If you require more information, see our coverage in LeftLion
Prizes for the competition are - 1st: £100 plus a Saturday Night Out in Nottingham, 2nd: £50, 3rd: £25. Runners up will receive a selection of books, kindly donated by publishers Random House and Little, Brown.
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‘I’m me and nobody else; and whatever people think I am or say I am, that’s what I’m not, because they don’t know a bloody thing about me’ |
Rules of entry
1. The competition is open to anyone living or working in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Lincolnshire.
2. Stories should be no longer than 1200 words, and should be typed, double-spaced, on A4 paper. We regret that stories cannot be returned, so please keep a copy.
3. The winners will be announced at the Lowdham Book Festival on 25th June 2011 The judges’ decision is final.
4. Pages should be numbered, and your name should not appear on them. On a separate sheet, please write your name, address, phone number, email address if available, and where you heard about the competition.
5. Please enclose a SAE for receipt of entry if required – marked RECEIPT. If you would like the results, please enclose a SAE - marked RESULTS
6. Cheques or postal orders should be made payable to: Writing East Midlands
7. Entries should be addressed to: The Competition Secretary, 38 Harrow Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7DU
Of course, Arthur Seaton didn't have much time for rules. But we need them to help raise money. So please get involved or spread the word...
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