Talented writer wins Guardian Short Story competition

A Bangor University PhD student has triumphed in the Guardian newspaper’s Summer Short Story Special competition, beating nearly 2,000 entries to be selected as the winner by the judges, novelists William Boyd and Julie Myerson.

Lisa Blower’s entry, ‘Broken Crockery’, is told from the perspective of a young girl whose grandmother is in the same hospital as Margaret Thatcher. Lisa drew inspiration for the work from her own life as her grandmother was admitted to hospital and sadly passed away at the same time as Lady Thatcher was hospitalised.

Currently in the final year of a PhD in Creative and Critical writing at Bangor, Lisa, 35, is a former Commercial Radio Marketing Executive. Originally from Stoke on Trent but now living on the Wirral, she decided to leave radio to focus on her studies and her interest in creative writing.

Lisa said, “I studied for my BA at Sheffield Hallam then went on to complete an MA at the University of Manchester, studying part-time whilst working in commercial radio. I was offered the chance to pursue a PhD immediately after completing my Master’s but decided against it as I was offered a job as a Marketing Director with a radio station in Newcastle.

“Three years ago I felt that the time was right to get out of radio and so I took up the PhD course at Bangor. I have always wanted to be a writer and so the dual aspects of both creative and critical writing appealed to me.”

Lisa has completed the creative part of her PhD, a novel called ‘The misrepresentation of me’ which is under consideration with an agent. The novel, which focuses on a female character forced into a residential home funded by a supermarket, is told entirely through the medium of blogs. The critical writing aspect of Lisa’s PhD also focuses on the female blogging experience and she hopes to have it finished by the end of this year.

Explaining her decision to enter the Guardian’s competition, Lisa said, “I saw from the competition advert that I was free to write on any subject I liked, so I started thinking about what would happen if my Nan ended up in hospital next to Margaret Thatcher, who she had always despised.

“What inspires my writing is the ordinary lives of the people around us, especially those of working class women like my Nan.”

Lisa admits that the news that she’d won came as a huge surprise. “I was so shocked when I had a phone call from the Guardian; I thought it was a hoax! I’m really thrilled to have won and I was astonished when I saw the size of the spread in the newspaper. I didn’t expect it to be so prominent!”

Lisa’s advice to any budding writers is to “keep at it and someone out there will see something in your work.” Her tutors at Bangor, Ian Davidson and Helen Wilcox have offered her similar encouragement throughout her studies.

“I’m really grateful to my tutors for their support and for giving me self belief. I’ve had days when I’ve wanted to throw my laptop out of the window, but they have always told me to keep at it,” she added.

Lisa's PhD supervisor, Ian Davidson of the School of English, is delighted for her. “Lisa has worked really hard over the last three years to complete a doctoral thesis of real originality.

“She is a talented writer, and her particular gift for capturing the nuances of characters and places make her stories come alive. Her success in the Guardian competition is, I'm sure, only a beginning in here career as a writer.”

Once Lisa completes her PhD she plans to continue writing and hopes to find a research post within a university.

Click here to read Lisa's story.

Posted 01/09/09