David McNair

Sewanee Review – This past July, the Sewanee Review held its fourth annual Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction contest. This year we received over one-thousand submissions. Today we are pleased to announce the winners.

Judge Brandon Taylor selected Allen Bratton’s short story “Philippa” as the winner for the fiction contest. Taylor calls it “a strange, dark story powered by a crepuscular psychological acuity and sharp dialogue. What will stay with me is the mood of hunger, want, and need that haunts our central character and the wounds of history that still linger. A potent, memorable story from a startling talent.”

“Meeting Ricky Jones” by David McNair was named the runner-up. Taylor writes, “‘Meeting Ricky Jones’ is a sly, patient story about a boy who doesn’t even understand how lonely he is. It’s a story of remarkable tenderness and dexterity, never sentimental and full of surprise. There is such a gift for the unstated here, and the quiet multitudes that fill out depths of our lives.”