The Great War has inspired many great works of art but, in an original twist, a competition run as part of the Canterbury Festival Umbrella has used those works as a starting point for original pieces of poetry and prose. It was an idea that fired the imagination of many writers attracting entries from around the world.

Writers from as far afield as the USA, India and Denmark were among the entrants for ‘The Bigger Picture – Reflections on the Great War’, an international writing competition run by Canterbury’s SaveAs Writers group.

“We were delighted by the number and quality of the entries”, said Luigi Marchini, Chairman of SaveAs Writers who organised the event.

The prose entries were judged by Truda Thurai, author of The Devil Dancers and Barley Bread and Cheese.

“The standard of writing was so high that I ended up with a pretty long shortlist!” she said. “I was really impressed by the amount of historical research that went into these stories and I learned a lot from reading them.”

“Many of the authors focussed on the role of women in the Great War – something that is often overlooked. At least two wrote about the women working in munitions factories who risked death either from explosions or from the deadly effects of the materials with which they worked. One of these stories was entitled ‘Canary Girls’, the popular term for women whose skin turned yellow as a result of working with TNT.”

The poetry entries were judged by Marilyn Donovan, a former Canterbury Poet of the Year.

Winners and runners-up of both the prose and poetry sections will be announced on Saturday 1st November at a prize-giving event with selected readings from both winning and shortlisted entries. There will also be a talk by Professor Mark Connelly and readings by poets Abegail Morley, Geraldine Paine and Jo Field.

The event will take place in one of Canterbury’s oldest buildings The Parrot pub, a fine example of a Wealden Hall House which dates back to the 14th century. The evening will start at 6 p.m. with a £3 entry fee at the door.

All shortlisted entries from the competition will be published later this year.

Further information:

For information about other events and competitions from SaveAs Writers: http://www.saveaswriters.co.uk/

Truda Thurai has published a number of articles to help writers on her blog site: http://tthurai.wordpress.com/

Information on T. Thurai’s books – ‘The Devil Dancers’ and ‘Barley Bread and Cheese’ – can be found either on Amazon or on her website at: http://www.thedevildancers.com/

The Parrot Pub, 1-9 Church Lane, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2AG: http://www.theparrotonline.com/

Some historical background to The Parrot: http://www.dover-kent.com/Parrot-Canterbury.html

St Radigund’s car park (the closest public parking space to The Parrot): http://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/st_radigunds_st_canterbury/