Thorazine Beach by Bradley Harris of Memphis, Tennessee

2nd Prize Winner

Embodying Geography by Manpreet Dhaliwal of Surrey, B.C.

3rd Prize Winner

Drift, Disappear by Mallory McMahon of Brooklyn, New York

Top Shortlisted Novels

• Suicide Season by Jay Bethke of Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• Fauvel by Kayt Burgess of Aurora, Ontario
• Recycled Virgins by Dorothyanne Brown of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
• Fall of Breath by Anne DeGrace of South Slocan, B.C.
• The Clothes We Wear by Vanessa Fernando of Montreal, Quebec
• Doorways by Barbara Gordon of Victoria, B.C.
• The Pledge by Annie Mahoney of Toronto, Ontario
• The Jewish Joke Factory by Kelsey Osgood of Brooklyn, New York
• Werewolves of Vegas by Teresa Perrin of Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Baselines by Anna Stewart of Bakersfield, California
• Go Bullet by Rudy Thauberger of Vancouver, B.C.
• Giant by Ben R. Williams of Basset, Virginia

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

THORAZINE BEACH by Bradley Harris of Memphis, Tennessee

Bradley Harris

About the Author

Bradley Harris is a Canadian writer, editor, and teacher living and working in Memphis, Tennessee. He is the only writer to have won the 3-Day Novel Contest twice; his first novel, Ruby Ruby, won the 21st annual competition in 1998. His other works include prizewinning short stories and a dramatic play, Incoming, produced in Memphis and Los Angeles. Brad holds BA and JD degrees, plus an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Memphis. He is currently at work on his third novel in the Jack Minyard series, Six Flags Over Jesus

About the Book
Jack Minyard is a private dick down on his luck. He’s badly overweight and on the wrong side of sixty; he’s lost his marriage, and maybe a little of his mind. After narrowly escaping charges in a money laundering scandal, Jack must count on private contracts, the kindness of strangers and a pile of prescription drugs to get by. In a last-ditch play to resurrect his career, Jack takes on a case that puts him on the wrong side of the tracks and in the midst of some of the roughest trade going. Thorazine Beach is a palpable and enthralling tale that will be released by Anvil Press in August 2013.

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SECOND PRIZE WINNER
Winning $500

Embodying Geography by Manpreet Dhaliwal of Surrey, B.C.

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THIRD PRIZE WINNER
Winning $100

Drift, Disappear by Mallory McMahon of Brooklyn, New York

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Our Top 12 Runners-Up

• Suicide Season by Jay Bethke of Sioux Falls, South Dakota
• Fauvel by Kayt Burgess of Aurora, Ontario
• Recycled Virgins by Dorothyanne Brown of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
• Fall of Breath by Anne DeGrace of South Slocan, B.C.
• The Clothes We Wear by Vanessa Fernando of Montreal, Quebec
• Doorways by Barbara Gordon of Victoria, B.C.
• The Pledge by Annie Mahoney of Toronto, Ontario
• The Jewish Joke Factory by Kelsey Osgood of Brooklyn, New York
• Werewolves of Vegas by Teresa Perrin of Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Baselines by Anna Stewart of Bakersfield, California
• Go Bullet by Rudy Thauberger of Vancouver, B.C.
• Giant by Ben R. Williams of Basset, Virginia

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Thanks to all who took part, and congratulations to everyone who got a creative boost out of the 35th Annual 3DNC. You can connect with other 3-Dayers and share your experiences and tips via the Abebooks chatroom link to the right, through the Twitter hashtag #3DNC or on our Facebook page at facebook.com/3daynovel.

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Big Contest News!

We thank everyone for bearing with us during the extra weeks it took to finalize this year’s contest results. It’s been a busy time at 3DNC headquarters as we prepped ourselves for two exciting changes.

First, we are thrilled to announce a new partnership with Anvil Press, who will be publishing and distributing the contest winners from this point forward. Anvil Press ran the 3-Day Novel Contest from 1992 to 2003 and was the driving force behind its evolution from a Canadian west-coast anomaly to the notorious international experiment that it now is.

Our second announcement is that the Geist Foundation, an established literary publishing group in Vancouver, is taking over the management of the 3-Day Novel Contest. We are thrilled to have this organization become the contest’s new home: the people at the Geist Foundation are experienced and dedicated literary arts administrators who have had a long relationship with this wacky creative endeavour. As a Vancouver-based foundation, they will also be able to keep the contest in its original birthplace and hometown of 36 years. Stayed tuned to this site for more news and updates as they prepare to launch registration for the upcoming 36th Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest this spring.

Meanwhile, here at transitional 3DNC HQ, we — Barbara Zatyko and Melissa Edwards, your faithful contest administrators for the past nine years — thank all of our past entrants for participating in the 3-Day Novel Contest with us and for being a part of the amazing experience of managing this literary tradition. We hope you found as much fun and fulfillment in taking on this year’s challenge as we have had in running it. We and our volunteer reading panel members wish you all a happy, productive and creative 2013, and hope, as always, that you are able to continue the momentum of the contest through to the next Labour Day long weekend.

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The 36th Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest will take place August 31 to September 2, 2013. Send an email to join the mailing list and receive notice when registration opens this spring.

Heidegger Stairwell is an excellent addition to any book club reading list, with a unique format and a complex set of themes that covers everything from sexuality to the complexities of creative collectives. Visit the Heidegger Stairwell book page to download a free list of book club questions for the winner of the 34th annual International 3-Day Novel Contest. And don’t forget to pick up your copy of this amazing novel, either through this site or at your favourite bookseller.

We’re well into the new year, and we know our entrants are starting to get restless as they wait for the judges’ decision on the winners and runners-up for our 35th annual event. But we have to ask you for your patience for just a little bit longer! We normally announce the winners near the very end of January, and while we are trying to meet that traditional date, it may take just a little bit longer this year. So please bear with us and check in again in a couple of weeks for another update on our progress. Until then, we at 3DNC headquarters send you our best wishes for 2013.

3-Day News

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Updates from 3DNC, sent every two months or so.

To subscribe, contact us and tell us to sign you up. If you’ve subscribed and didn’t receive it, check your spam box and add 3_Day_Novel_Contest@mail.vresp.com to your safe list.

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Entrant Statistics for 2012

We’ve got you figured

We’d like to offer a big thanks to everyone who took part in the 35th Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest, whether you were furiously scribbling a manuscript or cheering on someone who was. While our fabulous volunteer judging panel is deep in the work of reading this year’s submissions, we’ve been busy crunching the numbers from our 2012 event.

NUMBER OF ENTRANTS:  485
10-YEAR AVERAGE:  506
SHARE WHO SUBMITTED NOVELS: 71% (up from 67% in 2011)

AVERAGE WORD COUNT: 24,212 (up slightly from 2011)

MEDIAN WORD COUNT: 23,530 (down considerably from 2011)

COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING: 14, including Canada (54%), U.S.A. (41%), Australia, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden, Thailand, and U.K.

TOP REGIONS: Ontario, British Columbia, New York, Alberta, Washington, California

Our team will spend the rest of 2012 reading, re-reading, and deliberating over your submitted masterworks; by late January we hope to announce their decisions, send out a fancy certificate to each successful entrant, and begin the exciting work of polishing and publishing another fine, fast 3-Day Book.

Save the date! The 36th Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest will take place August 31 to September 2, 2013. Registration will open in spring 2013.

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3-Day Books

Heidegger Stairwell: Recent news and reviews

Heidegger Stairwell

“I loved Heidegger Stairwell… And it doesn’t really matter how long it took her to do it; [Kayt Burgess has] created a novel that’s outside of ordinary.”
—Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This book blog

“It’s a fast read and an entertaining one, at that. Recommended for anyone with a healthy love for schadenfreude.”
—Sebastian Buzzalino, Beatroute magazine

“It just sort of came out from the contest, and the caffeine and the sleep deprivation.”
 —Kayt Burgess as interviewed by Jeffrey Ougler, Sault Star

And…cake! Visit our Flickr photo pool to see the magnificent Heidegger Stairwell-themed book launch cake provided by Hamilton’s Cake Bits.

Get your copy of Heidegger Stairwell

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Friends and Relations

Good luck to this year’s NaNoWriMo scribblers

With National Novel Writing Month kicking off, we’ve been thinking a lot about some of our fellow organizations that are bringing the manic joy of creating under pressure to other seasons and other forms. 

We’d like to offer a hat tip to any 3DNC survivors that are continuing their momentum into these other challenges, be it more fiction with NaNoWriMo, screenwriting with Script Frenzy, filmmaking with our fellow Vancouverites at Crazy8s, speedy doodling with 24-Hour Comic, or with any of the other culture builders in the community of fast-forged art.

If you’re jonesing for the 3-Day rush in between Labour Days, find links to these and other similar organizations on our Writing Resources section.

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Kayt Burgess

The Sault Star has posted an interview with Kayt Burgess in advance of tonight’s reading in Sault Ste Marie. Read the article to find out how Kayt approached the contest and to hear about the initial ideas that eventually became her winning novel, Heidegger Stairwell.

For more information on tonight’s reading at the Sault Ste Marie library, as well as other upcoming events in Elliot Lake, Burlington and Oakville, Ontario, click here.

Kayt Burgess

Like the eponymous band in her 3DNC-winning novel, Kayt Burgess will be touring the towns of her home province of Ontario. If you live near one of these towns, come out and get a rare peek into Canada’s indie-rock world with a reading from Heidegger Stairwell, her wonderful, gender- and genre-bending book. The events are all free, they’ll all be fun, and they’re a great chance to meet local 3DNC veteran and contest champion.

Sault Ste Marie
Friday, Oct. 5, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
SSM Public Library
Main Branch, Program Room
50 East Street
[Join the Facebook event]

Heidegger Stairwell

Elliot Lake
Saturday, Oct. 6, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Gallery at the Centre
Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre
255 Hwy 108
[Join the Facebook event]

Burlington
Friday, Oct. 12, 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
A Different Drummer Books
513 Locust Street
[Join the Facebook event]

Oakville
Saturday, Oct. 13, 1 p.m to 4 p.m.
Chapters Oakville
Oakville Town Centre
310 North Service Road West
[Join the Facebook event]

Keep checking back for news on more local 3DNC readings and events.

The Word on the Street

Come find us in Toronto and Vancouver at The Word On The Street! This fantastic annual free festival of reading and books will be held Sunday, September 23 at Queen’s Park in Toronto and Sunday, September 30 at Library Square in Vancouver. (It’s also being held on the 23rd in Lethbridge, Saskatoon, Kitchener and Halifax, though we won’t have a booth in those towns. You should totally go anyway.)

Event Schedule for Toronto, Sept. 23

Event Schedule for Vancouver, Sept. 30

(Note that Vancouver is now a three day-event, with programming from Friday night until the street festival on Sunday.)

Come check out all the events, then find our booth, introduce yourself and pick up a copy of one of our fantastic past winning novels. We look forward to seeing you there!