A local writer has been shortlisted for the Okanagan Short Story Contest.
Coldstream’s Karen Meyer submitted two works, entitled Like Ants and Dirty Chai, to the contest and found out last week that both works have been accepted.
“It was a huge honour and a nice surprise,” said the mother of four.
The latter story, named after the spicy, hot drink, was written after Meyer observed an interaction between two people at a local coffee shop.
“My imagination sort of went from there and I built a story around it,” she said.
The story for Like Ants came after Meyer heard a segment on Jian Ghomeshi’s radio show Q on CBC One about people who like to dress up as super heroes and fight crime in urban settings.
Meyer, who was shortlisted for a previous work of fiction at the same contest last year, attributes her recent success to a course she took at UBC Okanagan with creative studies professor Anne Fleming. She was also one the writers selected to meet and have her work assessed by current UBC-O writer-in-residence Karen Connelly.
“It certainly helped things along,” said Meyer. “(Fleming) was very helpful. She read my stories and helped me see where I needed to be braver as a writer, working with point of view. (Connelly) also gave me some good insight.”
Connelly will also be the final judge and will pick the top three winners from this year’s shortlist of eight writers.
Besides Meyer, they include Kelowna’s Joanne Carey, Shelley Woods, and Tar Storness-Bliss; Kamloops’ Katherin Edwards and Karen Hofmann; and Nelson’s Jillian Harvey.
“She has a big job ahead of her to read through all the submissions. It really is about a personal reaction to the work,” said Meyer.
Entries for the 14th annual Okanagan Short Story Contest closed Dec. 16 and prizes of $500, $200 and $100 will be awarded at the ceremony to be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Kelowna branch of the Okanagan Regional Library.
Sponsors for the contest are UBC’s faculty of creative and critical studies; CBC Radio One; the Canada Council for the Arts; and the Okanagan Regional Library.
For more information, visit www.okstorycontest.org.
