Our intern Lisa tells us about her involvement in GWL’s Bold Types writing competition.
When I applied for my internship at GWL last spring, I was told that one thing I would be doing was to be a first round judge for a creative writing competition. At that point I had absolutely no idea what to expect but nevertheless, I said yes because it did sound like a lot of fun.
A few months later I knew what Bold Types was and I had an idea of what to expect, namely reading and shortlisting over seventy poets and more than eighty short stories on the topic of rebels or rebellion. I spent hours reading, rereading, reconsidering, comparing and finally deciding. I read poems and stories about all different kinds of women, all of them rebellious in one way or another, some in ways I’ve never thought of before! The moment I sent off the email with my final decision I asked myself: where they really the best, and didn’t all the authors put a lot of effort into their work?
At the final Bold Types awards event in November, I was able to hear the authors deliver their poems and short stories. Things I only read in silence to myself became suddenly filled with life. The way some of the authors chose to emphasis certain parts of their work and performed rather than read the words was extraordinary. The three judges picked some well-deserved winners, whose work you can read on our website for yourself:
https://womenslibrary.org.uk/2018/11/30/announcing-our-bold-types-2018-winners/
