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Part I of Mom Tri’s Boathouse Short Fiction Contest 2008 generated a large and enthusiastic response from writers as far away as the USA, Scotland and Australia. From the many-varied entries an impressive number of eighteen were short-listed as contenders for the first, second and third prize.

This year’s winners were again hand-picked by Jake Needham, Asia’s most stylish and atmospheric writer of such bestsellers as ‘The Big Mango’, ‘Laundry Man’ and ‘Killing Plato’ –a Jack Shepherd crime fiction story set in Phuket and starting in the Boathouse’s own Galley Bar.

“It was a tough decision”, said Jake this week during his stay at Mom Tri’s Boathouse with his wife Aey, “as the quality of so many entries was surprisingly high.” Jake decided on the following stories as the three very best:

First Prize: Eric Rosenkranz (Singapore) with The Gift
Second Prize: Barbara Fagen (USA) with Unpacking
Third Prize: Dr. Michael Moreton (Bangkok) with The Bridge

Honourable mentions go to:
Alexander Maycock (Phuket) with 6-2-6-4-6
Barry Daniel (Phuket) with Letta ‘Ome
Frank Visakay (Phuket) with The Perfect Vacation

Greater Phuket Magazine sponsored the competition and will place the winning stories in its pages during 2008. Winning stories can also be found on the Boathouse website.

Part 2 of the writing competition open to young school age writers 15 to 18 years closes 10 April. To get the students going, the beginning of a short Jack Shepherd story is posted here. Students are asked to finish the story using between 800 and 1,200 words.

The two Writing Workshops 11 and 12 March at QSI and BCIS were a success and sure to be repeated again next year, judging by the enthusiasm of the rapt student audience. The more than 100 students who attended the workshops were awed by meeting and listening to a real ‘live’ writer. “A book never runs out of batteries, is great value for money with hours of entertainment for a couple of hundred Baht, fits in any bag and stimulates your own imagination. Go out to a bookshop, browse around and you will find a book that will appeal to you”, Jake enthused and his passion for reading and writing didn’t seem to be lost on the students.

Watch a short interview by TV Channel 11 on its Andaman News here

Expats and visitors to Phuket joined an entertaining "Writer's Night" at Mom Tri’s Boathouse with Jake Needham, Southeast Asia's most stylish crime fiction writer. Jake spoke about his own work and what it entails to be a novelist. “Writing a book might seem daunting”, Jake said, “but consider writing little blocks of scenes and then later put them together like LEGO blocks. I don’t think about an outline for a whole book in advance but let the characters lead me. It keeps a book fresh this way.” His presentation brought one gentleman to exclaim his thanks towards the end of the evening, as he felt thoroughly inspired to finally follow through with his writing aspirations. The evening was led in inimitable style by Bruce Stanley and the event, the first in a series of Boathouse Writer’s Nights, was much appreciated by a spirited audience, many of whom avid fans of past evenings of the Chao Praya Literary Society at the Boathouse.

Dr. Minarovjech from Bratislava is welcomed by Dr. Sanguan (Left) and Dr. Toranis (Right) of the Phuket International Hospital, kind sponsors of the second stage surgery performed 10 March to create a complete ear for Dodo. The first operation was done in Bratislava last year. Dr. Minarovjech and Mr. Juraj Petras both regular visitors to the Boathouse, knew Neung one of the Boathouse beach staff and felt pity for Neung's son who was born without an ear. They decided to help him and sponsored flight, hospital and hotel costs for the boy and his father to enable their trip to Slovakia in July 2007. Watch a short interview with the doctors at the Phuket International Hospital here

Mom Tri’s Boathouse is a creation of famous Thai Architect and artist Mom Luang Tridhosyuth Devakul known as Mom Tri. Build in 1989, it quickly became a favourite with discriminating visitors and appears on numerous lists of the world’s best small hotels.

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22 mar 08