Alan McCormick, a Kenyan-born writer, won Ksh485,130 for his entry in the 2022 RTÉ Short Story competition, which was held in Wicklow, Ireland.
His short story Fire Starter came in second place, trailing Brendan Killeen’s Big Why, Little Why.
McCormick, who was born in Kenya before moving to England and, later, Wicklow, Ireland, attributed his story to a medical experience.
Despite his lack of strong religious beliefs, the writer who contracted a long-term illness visited a Quaker Retreat in the late 1980s and 1990s.
At the retreat, he met two men who engaged in light conversation, which relieved him as he received treatment.
“Another time, after being in the hospital, I ended up in a recuperation nursing home during the damp squib of 1999’s solar eclipse,” he recounted.
“These experiences stayed locked away for nearly two decades, but when the phrase, “Theo thinks he’s Christ’ popped into my head, I had an opening line for a story and an imaginary character ready to disrupt a familiar time and place,” he added.
In addition to being a father of three, he has worked as a hospital porter, nurse, political researcher, and actor.
He also collaborated with artist Jonny Voss on a book of comic illustrated shorts.
McCormick has just finished his second story collection and is working on a memoir.
Meanwhile, the RTÉ Short Story Writing Competition was established in 1986 and has since served as an important launch pad for new and emerging writers in Ireland.
