The pen is mightier than the sword.
-- Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Welcome, Noble Bulweriers!
Since 1982 the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest has challenged man, woman, and (precocious) child to write an atrocious opening sentence to a hypothetical bad novel. Intrigued? Read all about it.
Announcing our 2018 Grand Prize Winner
The grand prize for the XXXVth Lyttoniad goes to Tanya Menezes, who at seventeen years old is the youngest winner in contest history and the first from its hometown of San Jose. Tanya is your average rowdy teenager, but one who works at a local museum where she occasionally has to remind guests that Mars is still a planet and that global warming exists even though it was cold when they visited Vermont.
She enjoys engaging unwitting strangers in staring contests and writes slam poems like stand-up routines. Her favorite poem is John Donne’s “The Flea” and her least favorite author is Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Congratulations, Tanya! See all the 2018 winners and dishonorable mentions.
Our Grandpanjandrum, Scott Rice, and our illustrious winner, Tanya Menezes!
The pen is mightier than the sword.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton
Get The Best of the Worst
The contest has spawned four books featuring selections from the contest entries. The books are now out of print (such is the state of our country today), but you may be able to secure copies for yourself and your innumerable admirers from the links below.
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