Congratulations to Victor McConnell, for his story “Before It Gets Cold,” chosen by this year’s judge Lara Lillibridge!
Lara says, “’Before it Gets Cold’ is lyrical rumination of the liminal space between day and night, between relationships, and between stagnation and moving on. Throughout this essay the longing for sleep mimics the writer’s longing for connection. Although an inherently queer story, it rises to the universal in its ache for resolution.”
We look forward to featuring the winning story in our 2025 issue.
Victor McConnell grew up in a small town in Texas and graduated from Dartmouth’s creative writing program in 2004. After a year in a wheelchair in 2005 and a long, mostly dormant period from 2010-2019, he resumed writing fiction and poetry in 2020. His work has appeared in a variety of literary journals, such as The Los Angeles Review, Dogwood, and Driftwood Press, among others. His first book, a collection of short stories titled When Even the Bones Have Thinned, is scheduled for publication in late 2025. He has a 13-year-old son and lives in Golden, Colorado.