In advance of opening our Academy submission window for 2022/23, we are profiling our 6 Academicians of 2021/2022.
Meet John Biglands.
I like to write stories that tweak reality by just the tiniest smidgen. I put characters in these worlds and follow them to see where they go. Sometimes where they go is interesting. Those ones I let out of my writing desk and see if they can stand on their own two legs. Some of them can.
My piece, Night Terrors, about a father who finds something both familiar and sinister under his son’s bed, won first prize in the Cranked Anvil short story competition. My short story Charlie, about a monster who takes a little girl to her dreams every night, was shortlisted for the Love Reading Very Short Story award. In ‘The House by the Woods’, published in Existere, a widower returns to the house where he lived with his wife and finds something of her still there. I’ve also had pieces published in Havok and Every Day fiction. In the interests of balance, I should also add that I have well over a hundred emails saved in a folder entitled ‘reject’ on my laptop, but I don’t talk about those!
My time with the Northern Short Story Festival Academy has been wonderful. I was inspired by every writer in the group, both in terms of their feedback on my pieces, and by their own writing. It’s amazing how many different and talented writing voices there are in the North. I would recommend the NSSF as an experience to any writer who wants to grow.
You can contact John on Facebook and Twitter.
You too can join our Academy. We’re opening our submission window to all Northern based writers on Tuesday 30th August. Read more here.
