Rowayat Literary Journal and The Forgotten Writers Foundation recently launched “Unsold Stories,” a writing competition encouraging writers to reflect on the struggle of “true artists” with everyday “absurdity and materialism”.
The submissions are expected to highlight the “heavy burden” artists of different disciplines bear to bring their art out into the light.
“Most well-known art has the same pattern,” said Mahmoud Mansi, founder of The Forgotten Writers Project. “When someone, who’s not well known, comes up with a new idea, it becomes hard.”
The competition, which is open till 1 December, accepts entries of short stories ranging 1,500 and 5,000 words. Five Stories will be published in Rowayat’s next issue, which will come out in January, and one writer will be awarded 2,500 EGPs.
“Unsold Stories” is one of five competitions organised by The Forgotten Writers Foundation. “The Motherhood Story” competition, launched at Christmas, has accepted entries for nine months, in a reference to the duration of pregnancy, Mansi said.
Other stories discussed dictatorship and celebrated the life of Om Kalthoum, an icon of Egyptian music.
The Forgotten Writers Project is a non-profit, Alexandria-based society that seeks to motivate Egyptian writers to address under-covered topics through international competitions. The competitions, which Mansi hopes will help globalise Egyptian literature, are the first of their kind in Egypt.
Rowayat, is the first English language literary journal in Egypt, according to their website. In an attempt to create a space where “high quality literary work” is accessible, Rowayat supports both emerging and established writers.
More information about the competition is available on Rowayat’s website.
