Photo credit, Jane Hamborsky
About Virginia Ewing
Virginia Ewing spends her days writing fiction in beautiful Raleigh, North Carolina. Her essays, short stories, and poems, have appeared in journals such as the Thomas Wolfe Review, Bosque Journal, Scribes Valley Anthology, and The Raleigh News and Observer. Virginia’s writing has earned numerous awards. Aside from her writing career, she teaches cello at Meredith College in Raleigh, and spends summers writing and playing al fresco concerts on a remote mesa in New Mexico.
Professional cellist turned writer
Music informs my writing, often in subject, always in the flow and rhythm of language. It’s important to me to feel a deep connection to the fact that we live on a planet, that everything we do and feel and think is not just some mental construct of tasks and lists. Natural mysteries and wonders abound. At the same time, real and crucial things are happening in individual lives. That’s where the stories are.
Photo credit, Scott Chmelar
Awards and Honors
Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize
In 2017, Virginia Ewing Hudson won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize for her short story, “Mother.”
Judge Wiley Cash says, “This atmospheric, haunting story is a portrait of childhood grief and the ways in which children wade through it. Rooster, a young boy who cares for his dying mother while yearning for the mysteries of the world outside their home, is sensitive and beautifully drawn. The writing reminded me of the best of Elizabeth Spencer and Donald Ray Pollock.”
Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition
In 2018, Virginia Ewing Hudson won Second Place for her essay, “Seven Swims in Falls Lake.”
Judge Benjamin Rachlin says, “Seven Swims in Falls Lake” is elegantly told and innovatively structured, a love letter not only to a place but to its inhabitants - human, plant, and animal, organic and invasive, expected and surprising. This essay is as vibrant and dynamic as its setting.”
Women’s Writing Award, Firefly Ridge Magazine, first place
Judge Dawn Shamp says, “This coming-of-age short (Silo) is a jewel, tightly written, sharp in imagery, with details that engage the senses. There is an emotional tide that is beautifully rendered through the characters and their gestures. Every wave of emotion comes full circle with an ending that has an ever-so-light touch, yet packs a wallop.”
Randal Jarrell Poetry Competition, finalist
Writers @ Work, finalist
Women Speak Poetry Prize, winner
James Applewhite Poetry Prize, semifinalist
River Styx, Micro Fiction Contest, semifinalist
Faulkner Society Competition for Novels, semifinalist
Bosque Press, second place for short story
United Arts Council Personal Development Grant
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Fellow
Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts, Fellow
Scribes Valley Anthology, finalist
Author commentary on Virginia’s novel
What Men Do
Angela Davis Gardner, author of Plum Wine, Butterfly’s Child, and Forms of Shelter, says, “What Men Do is a deeply affecting novel of a young man’s journey to adulthood that is at once sharply original and universal in theme. The prose is beautiful, and in some moments, a glimpse of landscape, a stillness, a sudden awareness, the writer connects the reader with a strong sense of life’s mysteries.”
Peggy Payne, author of Cobalt Blue, Sister India, and Revelation, says “What Men Do is gorgeously well-written, with vivid characters, interesting psychological insights, a strong sense of the time and place, and beautifully realized scenes, one after another.”
Publications
Fiction
Nonfiction
“In the City of Oaks, Let’s Talk About Trees Again,” Raleigh News and Observer
”Signs and Offerings,” Vision & Voice
“Cellist On Fire: Jacqueline du Pré Live, 1965,” Colton Review
Poetry
“Bated Breath,” Verse Virtual Pandemic Poems
”Silver Lining,” Wildflower Muse
“Vessels,” “Reflections,” “Self,” and “Cliff Dwellers,” Vision & Voice
“Thank You, My Mother,” “Amusement Park Ride,” “Sea Dreams,” “What Do I Wish to Forget,” “Rise from your Pedestal,” “South Texas Train in December,” “Silence Ends,” “Ever,” “Unbridled,” Colton Review
“Bed of Roses,” Women Speak
