The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) offers an Older Writers Grant for a writer at least 50 years old who is “just starting to work at a professional level.” The $750 grant is awarded on the basis of merit as determined by a 500-word autobiographical statement; a 10,000-word writing sample (fiction; or 10 pages of poetry or drama); and a one-page bibliography.
This year’s recipient is Deborah Roggie. The SLF says of Roggie: “After graduating with a history degree from Rutgers University in 1978, Deborah Roggie stayed in New Jersey to work as a writer, trainer and technical specialist in the insurance and telecommunications industries. However, she fell in love with writing at the age of ten after reading The Hobbit and Harriet the Spy. History helped drive that love for writing, though, and she majored in the subject because she’s fascinated with the past and enjoys finding stories buried in the old texts. In particular, she’s intrigued by how differently our predecessors saw their world, how our past is remembered, and how we use the timeless world of fairy tales to make sense of our lives today. So, it comes as no surprise that her stories feature talking snakes, bears shape shifting into women, and love potions that work all too well.
“Currently, she is working on an untitled novel set in New Jersey during the first decade of the twentieth century where a family with hidden ties to Faerie must maintain a façade of respectability despite the desperate longings and secret adventures of various family members.”
Grant Administrator Malon Edwards said of Roggie’s entry, The Puzzle Tree: “From the beginning, the reader is thoroughly taken with the witch Tamana Sorn: she’s kind, strong-willed but flawed, and extremely intelligent. She comes alive when dispensing her knowledge of herb lore to her apprentice Braye Smitson, and the little boy in me can’t help but envy him for all of the wonderful things he learns.”
An excerpt from The Puzzle Tree is available here. Roggie’s autobiographical note is available here. Roggie’s stories have been published in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Realms of Fantasy, Eidolon, and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.