G. K. Wuori

Rebirth Redux - In 1975 I published a story that went on (unknown to me) to win a major literary prize. Much later (also unknown to me) the story was read at Symphony Space in New York City and broadcast on National Public Radio. That story has once again been reborn in a comic book (known to me, this time) done by Brendan Herrick of Murphy Beach Studio. Because readers of the comic were interested in what the original story was like, you can see it featured on the Cold Iron page under "Cool Iron" (the archives). Just click on Cold Iron above and join the fun!

Buy the comic! You can buy a copy of the comic for two bucks by ordering directly from the publisher.

It's easier simply to say, "Quilli" in referring to this small town in northern Maine - the product of a too-brief affair I had with Maine (seven years). So many odd things happened in that state while I lived there that I needed a place where I could begin to make sense of it all, where some of the villains could be cut down, and some of the heroes could be given a voice. Thus, Quilli came to be.

Really, Maine is a wonderful state, both wacky and cool and far, far more than its lobsteresque coastline, a truly strange blend of occasionally admirable sophistication, and a goofy, backward, hairy, wilderness ambience.

Many thanks for the website photos to Paul Rozycki of Flint, Michigan, Ardeana Hamlin of Hampden, Maine,and Brian Thomas of Rockford, Illinois.

This is the website of U.S. author G. K. Wuori, an Illinois Arts Council Fellow and Pushcart Prize recipient. In it you will find excerpts from some of my writings, a bit of biographical information, a monthly column (see Cold Iron), and an e-mail link directly to me. I will answer those e-mails.

Don't forget to click the links under "Selected Works" for more on my books.

Cold Iron this month: Iron Filings-14.

Available Now! - A Stranger Among Us, a terrific new anthology of stories of cross cultural collision, has now been published by Other Voices Books (an imprint of the University of Illinois Press). It's in bookstores now and, of course, you'll want to turn right away to Page 159 to read "The Naked Circus" by yours truly.

Great News - I have been asked to be a part of the fiction faculty at the second annual Gettysburg Conference for Writers sponsored by The Gettysburg Review and Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Naturally enough, I accepted the offer with great enthusiasm. The conference will be held in early June.

Final Notes – I received two awards recently that, even though they make one feel in the always-a-bridesmaid-but-never-a-bride category, are true plums to receive and even résumé-worthy.

My novel, What He Would Have Done To Me, as yet unpublished, was named a Finalist in the University of Michigan Literary Awards competition. My story collection, Respectful Beatings For Very Good Help,which you’ve heard about before, was named a Finalist in the Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award competition.

Each of these contests receives hundreds of entries, so to be named a Finalist is a true achievement. Alas, however, these two sparkling tomes remain unpublished although I’m working hard to change that.

Another Anthology

Once again I find myself "collected" in an anthology of really terrific stories. This one is published by the Steel City Review and has my "Trethaway Flutter" story - my much-complimented piece about a man who turns into a pigeon and finds that under almost any circumstances things can turn out okay.

Just click on the picture below and you can buy it as either a download or a paperback book.

Take a look at the blog! Just click on the picture below. Couple of good pieces in April.

Don't forget to check Cold Iron, too, for the May 08 installment - Iron Filings-14

A writer functions much like the great handbrake on one of the old steam locomotives. With a deafening screech and a terrible lurch, life as we live it is stopped for a moment. Words are wielded furiously as the writer says, "Look - this is how it is. This is how we are and what we are and why we are." Of course, that all changes once the giant engine starts up again, and the scenery and the light and the earth itself evolve into the stuff of yet another journey.

G. K. Wuori © 2002, 2004, 2005,2006,2007,2008