Rachel Estridge, a senior English major, recently won the Margaret Harvin Wilson Writing Award for her short story, “Dogs on the Porch.” The award annually honors an undergraduate student each year with the first place winner receiving $1,000 cash, a certificate of achievement, and recognition at a public ceremony as a celebration of excellence in writing. This year’s award was given out on what would have been Margaret Wilson’s 100th birthday. Rachel Estridge was among three finalists who read their submitted piece of writing at the award ceremony, and was then awarded with the $1,000 cash prize.
In addition to being the most recent recipient of the Wilson Writing Award, Rachel is also the editor-in-chief of the school’s literary journal, The Peacock’s Feet.
Rachel writes creative nonfiction as well as fiction, but says that fiction is what she prefers to write. She says one of her main literary influences is Amy Bender. Rachel says Bender’s stories, especially “The Rememberer,” a story depicting a reverse evolution, inspire her to include aspects that might go against normal reality. In her own words, Rachel says that Bender’s “use of language is so beautiful and she breaks all the conventional rules of writing.” Indeed, Bender’s influence in Rachel’s work is obvious.
One particular story Rachel wrote had a character with ears that seemed to grow as the story continued and she used these growing ears as symbolism throughout her short story. Rachel likes the aspect of keeping the reader grounded in reality with a pinch of something supernatural to keep the plot interesting.
Rachel is set to graduate in May and hopes that she can either teach abroad in South Korea, join the Marine Corps, or pursue and internship in publishing. The future is wide open for this talented young woman. Because of her writing talent, and for winning the annual writing contest, Rachel Estridge is this week’s campus celebrity. We hope she continues her writing on a path to publication and we look forward to seeing one of our own fellow students succeed in a career path she enjoys.