Kiwi Wins Irish Short Story Competition

 Paul Burns, a New Zealand citizen living in London, has won first prize in the Leonard A. Koval short story competition organised by the Labello Press in Ireland. Labello are preparing a printed anthology to be called Gem Street that will feature shortlisted entries  from Ireland, the U.K., France, Spain, Canada and the United States and New Zealand.

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Paul says he was stunned to hear that his story, Folie à Deux, had won.

 “I have mostly worked on novels since I made time for writing three years ago. The Koval is the first short story competition I have entered. It was thrilling to make the long list and being shortlisted was as much I had dared to hope for.”

The story is narrated by a psychiatric patient explaining the circumstances that led to him and his lover to be detained for a shared delusion.

Paul lived in Wellington and Wanganui between 1960 and 1978. He attended Victoria University and was a primary school teacher. After completing a Masters in Employment Studies in London he worked as an organisation development consultant and became a registered psychotherapist.