This year’s fiction contest, our fifth, drew nearly 100 entries from alumni of Stanford’s undergraduate, graduate and fellowship programs. Each story was read by one of three first-round judges—Stegner fellows Tamara Guirado, Otis Haschemeyer and Lysley Tenorio—who culled seven finalists for top judge Elizabeth Tallent, professor of English.
Here’s what Tallent had to say about her pick: “Beginning with its title, ‘This Is the Side of the Road’ makes good use of the idea of margins. What’s shoved aside in this story, what must be forced into the periphery of awareness, is the narrator’s deepest emotion. Disowned, or maybe the word is displaced—this emotion exerts subtle, persistent pressure, so that the story seems possessed by an intelligent anxiety. Even when it dips into lyricism, this is a disquieting story. In reading it, I felt the pleasurable uncertainty of not being able to predict where either the story or its smart, likable narrator would end up.”
Submissions for the next competition are due by October 1, 2002. The winner will receive $750, and the story will run in Stanford next spring. For details, visit www.stanfordmag.org.
