It was the second call for the Panodyssey project, which was launched with the theme "Walking in spaces, in stories". A total of 166 entries were submitted, which exceeded all expectations. We will report on the nomination process, presenting the finalists and the winners in the Book Magazine website.
Panodyssey is an initiative based in France with the main objective of creating a community site for writers and poets. The Creative Room European Alliance consortium aims to bring Panodyssey to other parts of Europe. This international programme brings together organisations from more than nine European countries. In autumn 2022, in professional partnership with Könyves Magazin, Pro Progressione started to promote the Panodyssey platform in Hungary. As part of this collaboration, Könyves Magazin launched the Panodyssey creative writing competition for the second time. Once again, we invited applications from authors whose work has not yet been published commercially. The application deadline was June 30th, 2023.

The call for short fiction ought to reflect the following quote from Olivia Laing: "A city can be a very lonely place, and to recognise this is to recognise that loneliness is not synonymous with physical isolation but rather with a lack of connection, closeness, or scarcity of kindred spirits: when, for this or that reason, we are unable to find the intimacy we crave," wrote Olivia Laing in her book The Lonely City in connection with the city and the human condition. How do we feel in the city? In a village? In a street? In a district? How has the relationship between people and the environment changed? What stories does a street, a house, or a walk tell?

The ten finalists will be selected by Panodyssey ambassadors Réka Borda and Noé Tibor Kiss and will be featured in the Book Magazine and on this platform too. They will also select the first three winners of the competition. The first prize will be 150.000 HUF, the second prize 100.000 HUF, and the third prize 50.000 HUF. The entries will be published in Hungarian and English in the pages of the Könyves Magazin. The announcement of the results will take place at the end of July, and the ten finalists will be invited to attend the ceremony. The selection process can be followed in the Book Magazine, where we will report on the nomination process and present the finalists and winners.

Disclaimer: This article is the English translation of the original Hungarian article published on Könyves Magazin.

 Credits: The cover photo is from Patrick Fore from Unsplash website.