University News Last updated 22 February 2016
MA Creative Writing student Jan Barker, has been highly commended for her short story entry for the Bare Fiction competition.
Jan’s entry ‘Summer, Nineteen Sixty Four’ is set on a beach on the south coast of England in July of 1964. As a young child plays on the beach, not all is as it seems… Readers are encouraged to create their own interpretation on what happens next.
The text began as a writing exercise to create a landscape, but was developed into a short story inspired by Jan’s own personal interest in human behaviour, how far people are shaped by childhood experience and hard-wiring, combined with recollections of her own childhood.
Writer Paul McVeigh who judged the entries of the competition said what he liked most about the story was the mystery, imagery and its sense of foreboding.
As a mature student Jan turned to writing fiction and drama after an early escape from working in local government HR. Having previously studied with the Writers Bureau and Arvon Foundation, she started the MA in Creative Writing in September 2015 and states to be thoroughly enjoying the course and thanks the staff for their continuing support and ‘general all-round genius’.
Making the top five out of 482 entries within the short story category, Jan’s entry will be published online after the print release of Bare Fiction Magazine’s Spring 2016 issue.