We were thrilled to see young writer David Ryan featured in the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday newspaper on Sunday 31 October! David’s story “A Familiar Prison” placed first in the five-to-eight age category of the 2021 NGC Children’s Bocas Lit Fest Dragonzilla Short Story Writing Challenge. In the article, he shares how he turned his COVID-19 lockdown experience into a prize-winning short story:
“My story was about how my home felt like a prison because of the pandemic. I can’t go anywhere and have to stay home unless it’s completely necessary to go out. I can’t go by my great grandmother. I love going to visit her very much…I also love to play outside and to go swimming.”
David is a standard three student at Diego Martin Government Primary School. He said he read about the competition in an advertisement and his mother, Daniella DeSilva, asked him if he would be interested in entering.
“I took time to think about it and then decided to enter. I love writing and I was hopeful that I would have won, and I did… I like writing narratives because many ideas fill my mind. I write very good stories. Sometimes, depending on my mood, I will write a story about it.”
Follow the link below to read more about this inspiring young writer:
‘Home felt like prison’: 9-year-old shares how covid19 inspired prize-winning story