Ayr Writers’ Club member, Suzy A. Kelly, fresh from Short Story Competition success at the recent Scottish Association of Writers’ National Writing Awards, has gone on to demonstrate her writing versatility with the publication of her flash fiction piece, Afore the Mast, in Northwords Now – a literary magazine printed in the Highlands that gives a voice to new, original, writing.
Beginning life as a prize-winning piece in a 2018 Ayr Writers’ Club Flash Fiction Competition, Suzy deftly expanded her original word count from under 350 words, to 712 words (flash fiction encompasses word counts anywhere from 6 words to 1000 words, depending on the format).
The piece, inspired by Orkney poet Robert Rendall’s mid-20th-century poem, Saut i’ the Build, takes themes of longing, loss, folklore, and blends them seamlessly with man’s love of the sea.
Suzy holds an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, has been published in Gutter magazine and New Writing Scotland, and is currently working on her first novel, Vile Deeds.
Northwords Now, a national printed and online publication, has released Afore the Mast in Issue 39. It can be read HERE