Allie Duff is a local writer and musician, most recently longlisted for WANL’s Postcard Short Story Competition. She’s credited with co-founding and running Spoken Word St. John’s, which celebrated its 2nd birthday in July.

Spoken Word St. John’s admins and promotes a monthly poetry open mic night in St. John’s, and you can catch the next night on September 13th at The Ship, 8 pm. Anyone can read, by signing up at the door, and there’s always a featured anchor reader.

Once upon a time, Gerard Collins was Allie’s first English prof at MUN, and made an impression on her. She calls him am “inspiring person,” and if you know him, you know what she means. Naturally, she read the book he released that year, Moonlight Sketches, and found the writing as good as the author himself.

Gerard Collins’s first novel, Finton Moon, was nominated for the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the 2013 Sunburst Award, the 2014 NL Heritage and History Award, and won the Percy Janes First Novel Award.

His short story collection, Moonlight Sketches, won the 2012 NL Book Award. This episode’s story is from Moonlight Sketches.

Stream this episode below, or download it by clicking the downward-facing arrow in the lefthand corner of the player. Producer: Annie McEwen, with Theme music from Noah Bender.