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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#142: Librarian Love

April 16th is National Librarian Day in the US! You may know your local librarian as the person who helps you find your next great read, but librarians accomplish a lot that we may never notice — acquiring new books, helping patrons conduct research, and working with schools or other community groups.

Ultimately, a librarian’s main job is to continue democratizing information so everyone can have access to whatever it is they want to learn. Pretty cool!

We believe librarians are massively important public servants in any thriving community, so to celebrate them we’re inviting you to write a story based on one of these five prompts:

🥇 Winner

“What You Can Do With Your Book” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

🏆 Winner of Contest #142

You present me with a gift bag as if legions of angels will descend, trumpeting your thoughtfulness in remembering my [insert celebratory event here]. I’m gracious, of course. You shouldn’t have!And I mean that. You shouldn’t have. Because now you are stepping over the line. We are simply:co-workers mothers with children at the same school neighbors with dogs old-friends-from-college, or spouses-of-old-friends-from-college. Regardless, we are not on gift-bagging terms. Especially the kind you immediate...

272 comments 272

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“Looking for Mr. Darcy” by Story Time

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #142

Every Sunday, I’m allowed to read a chapter from Jane Eyre.That’s a special treat for me since every other day it’s another Jane that commandeers the hour. My mother has good days and bad days. She has days where she can’t recognize me and days where she can’t recognize herself. Her life exists in that spot at the tip of your tongue where words and phrases go missing. Her life is made up of sterile smells and muted colors. She’s placed everyday in a chair facing a window that looks out on a man-made lake surrounded by a walking path and nati...

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“The Harpy Librarian” by Malik White

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #142

Sylise was one of Grand Isle Library’s most beloved and committed librarians. Born of harpy descent, her scaled hands and taloned feet made her stand out from her peers. The brown feathered wings that sprouted from her back made traversal around the grand library easy, especially when she needed to grab a book on the top shelf. Be it human or elf, thief or hero, she gave everyone a chance to take out her books, on the one condition that they return them on time. Sylise’s golden eyes carefully watched the three hourglasses that sat in front ...

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This week's prompts

Start your story with someone being given a book recommendation.

Middle School – 33 stories

Write a story about a librarian that doesn’t fit into the common librarian stereotypes.

Fiction – 62 stories

Write about a character on the hunt to solve a mystery who uses their local library (or librarian) as a source of information.

Thriller and Suspense – 25 stories

Write a story that includes one character reading aloud to another.

Dialogue – 30 stories

Write about somebody who likes to work in silence.

Dialogue – 25 stories

Stories

“What You Can Do With Your Book” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

🏆 Winner of Contest #142

You present me with a gift bag as if legions of angels will descend, trumpeting your thoughtfulness in remembering my [insert celebratory event here]. I’m gracious, of course. You shouldn’t have!And I mean that. You shouldn’t have. Because now you are stepping over the line. We are simply:co-workers mothers with children at the same school neighbors with dogs old-friends-from-college, or spouses-of-old-friends-from-college. Regardless, we are not on gift-bagging terms. Especially the kind you immediate...

272 comments 272

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“Heroin: No Postcards From Portugal” by Stevie B

Submitted to Contest #142

Heroin: No Postcards From Portugal“You may like reading, The Freaky Fungal Family Tree,” I told one of the two waitresses attending my table who’d noticed I was reading, and then had asked for book recommendations on that sun-splashed afternoon. That’s the explanation any of us three shared when strangers encountered us thereafter and inquired how we’d first met. After all, and because of our age differences, we were a curiosity. The two, who at first, became muses for my literary work. Eventually, well, what can I say? Legally, we were all ...

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“Looking for Mr. Darcy” by Story Time

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #142

Every Sunday, I’m allowed to read a chapter from Jane Eyre.That’s a special treat for me since every other day it’s another Jane that commandeers the hour. My mother has good days and bad days. She has days where she can’t recognize me and days where she can’t recognize herself. Her life exists in that spot at the tip of your tongue where words and phrases go missing. Her life is made up of sterile smells and muted colors. She’s placed everyday in a chair facing a window that looks out on a man-made lake surrounded by a walking path and nati...

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“Jack the Ripper” by Kathleen Fine

Submitted to Contest #142

“What can I help you with?” Jack asked the middle-aged woman standing in front of him at the information desk. He was always happy to help. The woman’s wiry, grey streaked hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days. Jack rubbed his hand over his bald as he looked down at the woman, glad for once that he didn’t have to worry about hair care.“My book is missing the last page,” she said urgently, pushing a copy of The Help towards Jack as if it were diseased.Jack frowned and put on his glasses. “Missing, you say?” he questioned as he picke...

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“The Living Library” by Howard Halsall

Submitted to Contest #142

Despite our best efforts, Emily and I were no nearer starting a family or finding a replacement to manage the Library. She was eager for stability, and my unwillingness to commit and guarantee a departure date was a source of contention. Emily refused to believe that I couldn’t just serve my notice and leave.‘It’s not like you’re saving lives, Jim,’ she’d say. ‘You’re a librarian, for God’s sake.’#I’d accepted the post a year before meeting Emily and adored my work. The first time she appeared, I recall being on the granite steps outside the...

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“Library of Lives” by Katharine Widdows

Submitted to Contest #142

“Collecting for the library! Collecting for the library!” shouted Gretham as the shire horses rounded the corner into the biggest slum in Pannegul. “Come on, don’t be shy, any story or talent accepted. Collecting for the library! Human books wanted!”Gretham lifted his scarf over his mouth and nose, but rotting market vegetables and rancid animal dung seeped through the fabric. His ears were assaulted by the chatter, the dogs barking, the slopping mud and the clanging of makeshift, metal doors.A small boy approached the cart with his hands he...

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“Friendly Advice” by Zack Powell

Submitted to Contest #142

Content warning: Mentions of miscarriage"You should read The Light Between Oceans," someone will tell you, six months after you miscarry. They won't know what you know now, the myriad ways your own minefield of a body can betray you. You'll stand by the stove preparing dinner, the landline cradled between your shoulder and ear, and feel the steam from the boiling water scald your face. You'll watch the bubbles rise from the bottom to kiss the surface while your friend goes into detail about the novel."The couple in that book had two miscarri...

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“Robbed by Cats” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #142

TW: Swearing... Shawn couldn’t believe it when he was robbed by a gang of cats. At first they were just six adorable fluffballs who came to see him from the gaps between the houses on his way home. Then they spoke. “What’s in the bag buddy?” The voice seemed to come from within Shawn’s head. He looked around. “Down here, whiske...

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“The Harpy Librarian” by Malik White

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #142

Sylise was one of Grand Isle Library’s most beloved and committed librarians. Born of harpy descent, her scaled hands and taloned feet made her stand out from her peers. The brown feathered wings that sprouted from her back made traversal around the grand library easy, especially when she needed to grab a book on the top shelf. Be it human or elf, thief or hero, she gave everyone a chance to take out her books, on the one condition that they return them on time. Sylise’s golden eyes carefully watched the three hourglasses that sat in front ...

Read story

“Whispers in the dark ” by Holly Guy

Submitted to Contest #142

Yes, it’s true that I have done bad things. Awful things. But can you really blame me? My illness had spread through my limbs like water off a cliff, penetrating each and every nerve, clipping them so I felt nothing. Even now, I feel nothing. I had heard the voice of God and it was sweet! In my dream, he called out to me, opening those warm embracing arms for his child to come to him. I obeyed his call like a lamb to the slaughter. But, please, don’t judge me so harshly. How can one resist God’s beckoning? There are plenty of reasons w...

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“The Dartist” by Sharon Hancock

Submitted to Contest #142

Warning: Some reference to mental health, and of course, Violence and gore.***** She adjusted her eye patch and focused her one, good eye on the infinite potential of the blank canvas. Tongue between lips, she paced on silent socked feet …turning, visualizing, imagining. She felt the hum of inspiration that sprouted in the back of her mind; growing and blossoming as it crept forward in her consciousness. Tapping the end of the paintbrush on her lips, she cocked her head and narrowed her eye. On her next inhale, she saw it; t...

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“It’s My Party! 🦏 🪩 🎁 ” by PJ Aitken

Submitted to Contest #142

Staring at his shoes as they scraped petulantly along the floor towards his seat, Ronnie the Rhino tried his best to remember exactly how he got to this point. Wracking his brains to no avail he sat down and whispered to his colleague to help him remember. Whispering back two wonderful words into his ear, Ronnie’s eyes glazed over as he leapt back with gusto to those heady days before he had to tolerate all this nonsense.————Fifteen months previously, after yet another day of meetings, meetings, meetings, a younger and more care free Ronnie ...

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“The Tale of Sir Danielle Longbow” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #142

Sir Danielle Longbow woke tired, sweaty, and dehydrated. Her smile stretched from ear to ear as she looked at Lupita Smith asleep next to her. Months and an ocean apart had been tortuous. To make up for it they had kissed until they were screaming with ecstasy. Neither had stopped until their bodies betrayed them with unconsciousness. Kissing the soft brown skin of Lupita’s chest Danielle waited for her lover to wake up. Miss Smith only managed a frown in her sleep and r...

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“Once an Enemy, Now a Prince” by Graham Kinross

Submitted to Contest #142

To Lupita Smith the smell of a library was heaven. To Sir Danielle Longbow it was a sharp reminder that she’d spent most of her life illiterate. It was also a reminder that she sneezed in dusty places. “Welcome to my humble commode,” said Carl Northman brightly, arms spread with a book in one. “No, wait. Wrong word.” He flipped the book open again. “Abode. My humble abode.” He frowned. “You don’t live ...

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“Crimson Spurts” by Suma Jayachandar

Submitted to Contest #142

I wouldn’t have come home, had my brother not left it.I alight from a black and yellow auto-rickshaw. My parents are not expecting me. So, nobody picked me up from the railway station.I pay the driver. He turns the tri-wheeler around and sputters away. I stand in front of imposing gates, with pink and white bougainvillea bursting from its sides. My hands tremble as I unlatch it after nearly 5 years. I crack it open just enough for me to slip in with my backpack.The sweet fragrance of jasmine tries to ward off the bitter memories emanating fr...

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$250

Prize money

175

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 22, 2022 EST

Won by Deidra Whitt Lovegren 🏆

Title: What You Can Do With Your Book

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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