Click photo to enlarge
Literacy North Otago tutors Peter Finlayson (left) and
Cliff Browne have both had two stories published in Rough
Justice. Photo by Sally Rae.
An amusing tale about an oil-rig toilet mishap could
hopefully encourage young men to take up reading again.
Literacy North Otago tutors Peter Finlayson and Cliff Browne
have each had two short stories published in Rough
Justice, the result of a "books for blokes" short-story
writing competition run by adult literacy provider Adult
Learning Support in Nelson.
The stories in the book were written with young men in mind
and were described as "quirky, amusing and occasionally
politically incorrect".
There was a shortage of reading material to engage young men
and the idea of the competition was to generate stories that
would appeal to them.
"This is not Mills and Boon", Literacy North Otago manager
Paul Marsh said.
Mr Browne and Mr Marsh discussed how to encourage men to
write about 18 months ago.
They decided to take the lead.
Subsequently, a small group met occasionally, and "basically
sat around telling yarns" before committing them to paper, Mr
Browne said.
They were now looking at "where to from here", and
investigating how material could be published, providing an
outlet for the stories people have.
"Everybody who comes here has a story to tell," Mr Marsh
said.
Mr Browne, who has been a tutor for four years, writes
poetry, so short stories were a new challenge for him.
For Mr Finlayson, who has just completed his tutor training,
it was his first published work.
