As Frost Magazine have mentioned before, this is the inaugural year of the Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for Independent Authors. Georgina died, too young, in 2017. As a senior editor at Arrow, Georgina was determined that her authors should fulfil their potential, and, more, she was also a great supporter of WforW. To commemorate her life, the three grannies who run Words for the Wounded determined that Georgina should be honoured. To this end they renamed the competition and re-jigged its structure. So now there are four categories.
This year the grannies are delighted to say that not only are the entry numbers up which will enable them to do more to help veterans, so too is the standard. ‘It is heart warming to see so many excellent entries, and a great treat to read them and Georgina would be thrilled.’
Of course, though, there have to be winners and ultimately the team led by Milly Adams, one of Georgina’s authors, unanimously arrived at the winners of all categories – absolutely no blood on the floor. Unusually for WforW though, they have created joint 2nd place winners for two categories, so impossible to separate were those entries. Today Frost Magazine features the winner of the Non-Fiction Category. Tomorrow the joint 2nd place winners.
1st Place: If It Wasn’t For That Dog! – Michael Forester
A beautifully written exploration of a journey from sound into silence, and the subsequent arrival of a companion of inestimable worth.
From page one we get a handle on the man, his denial of his increasing deafness, the changes his loss of hearing brings, his humanity, his laugh aloud humour, and how Michael Forester made his life work with the help of his AD, (assistance dog); his pal, his companion, his Matt.
His Matt who gives him confidence, fills in for his hearing, and makes him laugh, usually.
Judges’ Comments: Forester drives a structurally sound memoir, enlightening the reader on every page – did you know that one should make sure light falls on your face, when in the company of a deaf person, so that lips can be read? Such practicalities leap off the page, as does the sheer fun of living with the beloved Matt. We become aware of Forester’s spirituality, his practicality, and the confidence that builds through his partnership with Matt. What a character – Matt’s we mean, but Michael Forester has a whacking dollop too, and a writing talent.
Read it, learn, enjoy. Not often the two come together into such an energetic satisfying whole. The judging team loved it.
But let’s hear more about Michael and of course, Matt:
Some are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Michael Forester was born with a pen in his hand.
Of course, it was immediately pinched by his big brother who put it on a shelf too high for him to reach. He got his own back though. He nicked his brother’s abacus and hid behind the sofa with it. Thus his accountancy and entrepreneurial career was born, but always clouded by a nagging suspicion that his true calling had something to do with writing.
By the time he was 30 he was finally tall enough to reach the shelf, and took down the pen. This induced a bout of split personality disorder in which he oscillated between pillaging the stock market and writing books teaching others how to make incalculably vast sums of money (one was called Going for Growth and the other, How to Make More Profit). Unfortunately, they didn’t make incalculably vast sums of money themselves.
The millennium year saw a complete volte-face (millennia can be quite feisty like that, Michael says – still, not to worry, he’s fully prepared for the next one) in which he determined to devote his life to poetry, fiction and life writing. The first result was If It Wasn’t For That Dog!, about his first year with his beloved hearing dog, Matt. Michael has been severely and progressively deafened from the age of 30 onwards.
Michael wrote the book during the all-important first year he spent with Matt, living in the New Forest, learning how to work in a hearing dog partnership. Matt was trained to hear sounds around Michael’s home (the door bell, the smoke alarm etc.) and alert him. He ventures out and about with Michael, in a distinctive maroon coat, acting as a vital visible indicator of an invisible disability.
In 2017 Michael began travelling internationally, speaking inspirationally and signing books for his many international followers. That first trip, to the Philippines, was followed in 2018 by a second, covering Cambodia, Thailand and a return visit to the Philippines. Further tours are planned for 2019 and beyond.
Now at the venerable age of 62 Michael divides his time between Tenerife and the UK as wel as travels internationally in support of his work. He numbers dryads and angels amongst his closest friends.
His children look on aghast as he squanders their inheritance on such profligacies as A4 printing paper and laser toner cartridges.
They need have no concern. He plans to leave them the pen.
Michael’s web site, michaelforester.co.uk is regularly updated with details of his activities and includes a widely read blog at michaelforester.co.uk/blog
If it Wasn’t for That Dog! by Michael Forester: pub Paralight Press. Available from Amazon.co.uk in e-book and paperback.
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