Nambucca writer takes out international Hope Prize Nambucca Valley Nambucca Valley - popup ad by News Of The Area - Modern Media - August 4, 2024 Writer John Merkel has taken out The Hope Prize. NAMBUCCA writer John Merkel has taken top honours in The Hope Prize with a story titled ‘Shadows Cast by the Moon’. Billed as a “global short story prize like no other”, The Hope Prize calls for submissions on the themes of hope, courage and resilience from all over the world. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au More than 1400 submissions were received, with Merkel being selected as the winner and recipient of $10,000 sponsored by Simon & Schuster Australia. “The story that won The Hope Prize is about a friendship my mother Paula, who lived most of her life in Nambucca, struck with a man she met at a support group when she was recovering from a prolonged period of mental illness, and who remained a lifelong friend,” Mr Merkel told NOTA. “Nambucca is my home town, where I still have many friends and family.” Now living in Edinburgh, Merkel is devoting much of his time to writing a novel and a collection of short stories. “I’m currently 60 000 words into the novel and have a collection of short stories, some of which are confronting and sometimes funny, examinations of my ‘never a dull moment’ life as the child of a traumatised war veteran father and a mentally ill mother.”
