Honorable Mention in the 2021 Nick Adams Short Story Contest
Read the story: Blackberry’s Blues
“I commend this writer for the story’s succinctness, verbal acrobatics, and poetry. A taut, dreamlike, innovative tale told in astonishing language.”
– Final Judge Sandra Cisneros
More about Bren Davis:
- Junior at Ripon College
- Major: English
- Minor: Women and Gender Studies
- Hometown: Milwaukee, WI
ACM: What sparked your interest in writing, and how did you get started writing fiction?
Davis: I’ve always enjoyed writing fiction, especially as a child. Writing in all forms has always been a space of safety for me, and fiction became very important as I grew older because it gave me the opportunity to express my personal feelings and the feelings of others like me in a way that could be appreciated or empathized with. It started in middle school and I’ve been lucky enough to continue to improve on the way I express myself.
ACM: How have you developed your writing while you’ve been at Ripon?
Davis: I especially have to thank the creative writing professor and students here at Ripon College, they really have gone a long way in helping me hone my personal writing style. I would specifically like to acknowledge my growth in writing after taking the Introduction to Poetry class here. Professor Gannon and my classmates taught me so much in appreciating the artistry in poetry and finding ways to pay homage to it in my personal writing, even though it is in a different literary form. Of course more than anything is practice, as I don’t think it’s possible to mature a literary voice without growing familiar with it. Thankfully, Ripon has allowed me space and opportunity to do that throughout my academic career here.
