Lorelei Goulding is the Life Writing Prize 2020 winner for Birdie. Lorelei wins £1500, an Arvon course, a writing mentor, 2 years membership to the Royal Society of Literature and development meetings with an agent and an editor. Lorelei is originally from Long Island, New York and lives in rural Somerset with her husband, three children, and very unruly dog. She is currently completing an MSc in Public Health at UWE Bristol and is particularly interested in Adverse Childhood Experiences and how they impact health over the life-course. She has been keeping disorganised journals and writing stories since childhood. ‘Birdie’ is her first work to be published (in the Life Writing Prize online booklet on the Spread the Word website).
Judge Nell Stevens described Birdie as “a masterful piece of life writing, which beguiles and horrifies in equal measure. There is a poise and assurance to the prose, which holds attention and tension throughout. I was completely convinced by, and full of admiration for, this difficult, restrained, unflinching work. My mind has returned to it often since first reading, and I expect it will haunt me for a long time. I cannot wait to see more from this author, who writes like someone we should have been reading all our lives, and deserves a very bright literary future.”
Spread the Word’s Laura Kenwright interviewed Lorelei during lockdown in May 2020, which you can see here. Lorelei reads a short, fantastic excerpt from her winning piece.
Michelle Wood provides BSL Interpretation, and the video is also subtitled.
Published 3 June 2020