Former Collegiate pupil awarded national literary prize
Many congratulations to Layla Hendow who has won an international writing competition and will have her story published in a national newspaper.
Layla left Hull Collegiate School in 2010 with A*AA in History, English Literature and English Language. She is now studying English Literature at Lancaster University and has recently won £2,500 in the 2011 International Short Story Competition held by the International Gateway for Gifted Youth and Litro magazine.
Her story entitled “La Maison de Dieu” will be published in The Sunday Times and on posters on The London Underground.
Layla has also been commended by the Mayor of Hull, Councillor Colin Inglis, who said: "It's great to see the talent and achievement of Hull's young people recognised, because it's something the whole city can be proud of. Layla clearly has a brilliant future ahead of her and I'm sure she will be an inspiration to many other budding young writers."
Layla would love to become a writer and says, “I've been writing seriously for a couple of years, but I have always been interested in literature and creative writing. Studying creative writing at Lancaster last year was a turning point in my love of writing.”
The winning story “La Maison de Dieu” was inspired by a trip to France with her family when she visited a church.
“I have always been interesting in religion and it is a common theme in both my poetry and short stories. I enjoyed writing the story very much; it was a challenge to balance the contrast between the priest and the girl, but one that I think I succeeded in finding.”
Layla has already had poems published in Aesthetica and Acumen Magazine, and has been featured in two anthologies by Forward Press.
IGGY is an international network of the brightest and most creative young people aged 11-19 and the award judges included the author Abdelkader Benali, poet Sabrina Mahfouz, George Ttoouli from the University of Warwick’s Creativity and Performance in Teaching Learning Centre and Cathy Galvin, Deputy Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine.
Read Layla’s story here
