PRESS RELEASE 25 September 2020

Welsh Writer Rhiannon Lewis Wins William Faulkner Literary Prize for Short Story

Welsh author, Rhiannon Lewis, has become the first UK writer to win the prestigious William Faulkner Literary Competition in the Adult Short Story category. The competition was established in 1997 to commemorate the centenary of Faulkner’s birth.

The win was announced on 25thSeptember from the William Faulkner Library at the Union County Heritage Museum in New Albany, Mississippi. The prize, which is usually awarded at a luncheon with around 200 guests in attendance, was broadcast live on the Museum’s Facebook page because of the ongoing situation with Covid-19. The presentation was made by Lynn Madden on behalf of the William Faulkner Literary Committee.

William Faulkner was born on 25 September, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi. He won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature and Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction in 1955 and 1963, and is widely regarded as one of the most celebrated writers in American Literature.

The adult short story award calls for a single, previously unpublished story of up to 10,000 words written in English. Lewis’s story, Piano Solo, tells the story of an eccentric Maths teacher whose one true obsession is perfecting Rachmaninov’s notoriously difficult third piano concerto. Previous winners and runners-up have come from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Iran as well as the United States.

Rhiannon Lewis took up writing in 2011. Her debut novel, My Beautiful Imperial, was published by independent publisher Victorina Press in 2017 and was named by the Walter Scott Prize Academy as one of its recommended historical novels. In 2018, it was translated and published in Spanish as Mi Querido Imperial. Other works by Rhiannon Lewis have had success at competitions such as Frome Festival, Hammond House, Bristol Prize, and The New Welsh Writing Awards.

Victorina Press will be publishing an anthology of Lewis’s short stories in 2021. The company’s managing director, Dr Consuelo Rivera-Fuentes says, ‘Becoming the first UK author to win this prestigious, international award is a remarkable achievement and a testament to Lewis’s ability to create memorable stories.’

For more information on the competition, go to: www.williamfaulknerliterarycompetition.com

For more information on Victorina Press, go to: www.victorinapress.co.uk

To watch the ceremony on the Union County Heritage Museum’s facebook page: