Ellis alumna wins Vermont Writers’ Prize
Nancy HAYES Kilgore '65 is the winner of the 2016 Vermont Writers’ Prize. Her story, “A Thousand Half Loves,” is of a small town in Vermont, but at the center is the love story between the primary characters, Mona and Frank.
“A Thousand Half Loves” captures the quaintness and intimacy of living in a small town in Vermont—through the eyes and heart of Mona, beginning with an image of a bulletin board outside Mona’s country store, cluttered with papers and yellowed with age, that resonated with the panel of judges as “very Vermont.”
Ms. Kilgore, a writer and psychotherapist who leads workshops and retreats on creative writing and spirituality, said, “This is something I love about rural Vermont – that we can talk about gutter cleaning and snow shoveling and recycling and in the next moment share something deep and life defining. In my writing I like to describe the ways ordinary life can shine with moments of profound meaning.”
The Vermont Writers’ prize is awarded by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Magazine. It is considered by Vermont writers to be one of the state’s premier literary prizes. Previous winners include amateurs as well as seasoned writers.
Kilgore lives and writes in Burlington. “A Thousand Half Loves” is an adaptation of a chapter in her yet to be published novel, Wild Mountain.
“A Thousand Half Loves” is published in the March/April issue of Vermont Magazine, which is on newsstands now.
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“Mona Duval stands in front of the outside bulletin board, a storm center of papers and notes and photos, in pinks and blues and whites that are yellowed with age. The wind blows, cutting up from the river and scarpering down to the parking lot, and the sun plays tag with the clouds. A day of sharpness and light, shadows and angles. People come to Vermont in droves for the fall colors, but she likes it best in the spring.”
Ms. Kilgore, a writer and psychotherapist who leads workshops and retreats on creative writing and spirituality, said, “This is something I love about rural Vermont – that we can talk about gutter cleaning and snow shoveling and recycling and in the next moment share something deep and life defining. In my writing I like to describe the ways ordinary life can shine with moments of profound meaning.”
The Vermont Writers’ prize is awarded by Green Mountain Power and Vermont Magazine. It is considered by Vermont writers to be one of the state’s premier literary prizes. Previous winners include amateurs as well as seasoned writers.
Kilgore lives and writes in Burlington. “A Thousand Half Loves” is an adaptation of a chapter in her yet to be published novel, Wild Mountain.
“A Thousand Half Loves” is published in the March/April issue of Vermont Magazine, which is on newsstands now.
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