Napkin Microfiction Contest Prize Winners Announced

Sasha Snow is a director, writer, producer, and actress. She has a degree in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas at Austin; and has trained in sketch comedy, writing and improv at Upright Citizen’s Brigade, Groundlings, and Second City.

Snow has acted as a production coordinator for several DirectTV/AT&T and Netflix shows, working with a variety of well-known celebrity talents. Snow recently wrote, produced and directed the SAG short film Mullet Girl, which was an Official Selection of the Indie Short Fest.

In her spare time, she creates short films with her production company, Albino Hedgehog Productions. Sasha’s currently writing sketch comedy, re-editing her feature-length screenplay, and writing her first play.

Maggie Friedenberg is a writer, reader, coffee drinker, and nerd. She is currently querying her debut novel, Holding Pattern. She is a co-host of the Rainy Day Collective Podcast, and serves on the patient advisory board of PCOS Challenge. Maggie lives in Philadelphia with her husband and three kids.

Rick Hansard loves short stories and poetry. He self-published two children’s books that tell stories about a young boy who finds adventure using his imagination. Written in poetic verse and containing colorful illustrations, they will make a nice addition to a parent’s library of bedtime tales. Rick has a large collection of mixed genre works he hopes to publish soon.

The Midday Adventures of Charley McDoogle and Charley McDoogle’s Christmas Adventure are available at Barnes and Noble and online at Amazon.

Ednor Therriault’s first book, 2009’s Montana Curiosities, became the best-selling title in Globe Pequot’s Curiosities series. The second edition was released in 2016. With a background in journalism, Ednor specializes in nonfiction, and cannot stop himself from injecting his quirky humor into his writing. His next book, Big Sky, Big Parks, is due for release in 2023. Playing music under the name Bob Wire, Ednor performs around the West and has released five albums of original music. He lives in Missoula, Montana with his wife Shannon.

Sophia Therriault lives in Missoula, Montana with one dog, two humans, one cat, and 22 of her closest houseplants. She is attending the University of Montana where she will receive her bachelor’s in psychology and English. Pre-COVID, Sophia attended school at The Evergreen State College where she studied creative writing, cognitive studies, audio recording, and fine art. In 2019, Sophia released her first album, Bruises, as part of a two-person duo called Red Dress. 

Elaine began her writing career with the Hurricane Hilda series based on Hailey’s adventures growing up. This book is illustrated by renowned cartoonist Stella Perrett.

Elaine met award-winning Scottish illustrator Alison Stell on Twitter and invited her to collaborate on the Wee Bunny Book released July 2017 by Beul Aithris Publishing [meaning folklore in Gaelic]. The sequel Wee Bunny Book 2 was published in June 2020 in paperback and kindle formats. Elaine’s third book series The Magical Scottish Unicorn was released on St Andrew’s Day 2018.

Mae Wagner, married her husband in 1994, and became an adoptive mom with three amazing and beautifully resilient (now fully grown) kids. Mae writes on her blog Rainy Day in May. She listens and collaborates alongside lots of strong and incredible women on her podcast The Rainy Day Collective.  Speaking engagements (something she never expected!) have also become a passion, as Mae feels very strongly about connection, relationships and authenticity. She shares photos & microblogs from her life, the good/bad/ugly (but always authentic) on her Instagram. Mae also freelances in the PR/Entertainment industry, though this is less and less as these other parts of her career grow and grow. Mae is currently a writer, life coach and mentor.

By day, Ariel is a data analyst. By night she writes, plays video games, cooks, and reads summaries of horror films she’s too afraid to watch. She has recently discovered a love for flash fiction and is working on her first novel.

Originally from the United States, she moved to London seven years ago where she still lives with her husband, two rabbits, and an anthropomorphized robot vacuum named Elliot.

Hi, my name is Darren Faughn. I’ve always found peace placing pen to paper. I wrote this short story before the contest even came to fruition, but it took me weeks to finalize what I wanted to submit. I hope to one day publish my own book of short stories and anecdotes. Placing top ten has only added more fire to the flame to birth a career of my own in the writing world (even if I don’t get on the NYT Best Sellers list).

Shannan Chapman lives and writes in Tucson, Arizona. When there isn’t a pandemic, she can be found traveling the world, meeting interesting people and writing about them.