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Auckland Writer’s Festival 2017: On Saunders, Beatty, & Writing

Posted on by Ignacio B. Peña

Last week I went to the Auckland Writer’s Festival and met some literary heroes. It was exciting and inspiring and I left wanting to go straight home and write with all the energy I’d been inspired by; instead I flew back to Wellington and had to get back to a busy week at work and I’m only just now getting a chance to sit, reflect on what I learned, and start thinking about what it means for my own writing. I wanted to chronicle a bit of the weekend here, so that I won’t forget the details that stood out to me, and to share a little of what I thought was insightful. Continue reading “Auckland Writer’s Festival 2017: On Saunders, Beatty, & Writing” →

Longlisted for PRISM International Prize

Posted on by Ignacio B. Peña

Some brief exciting news on the fiction front! A few weeks ago my short story “But no.” was longlisted for PRISM International’s Inaugural Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction. The competition has since been completed, and the shortlist and winners have been announced. Unfortunately, my story did not move on to those final stages, which means that I am still on the hunt to find a publication home for it, but it was exciting to be longlisted; out of 600 submissions, the story placed as one of 15.

Congratulations to all the writers who will have their stories published in PRISM, and a special thank you from my part to the editors at PRISM International for taking the time to consider my work. I look forward to reading the winning stories.

Full-time

Posted on by Ignacio B. Peña

It’s been seven months since I finished the the Creative Writing program at the University of Edinburgh and I have returned to Wellington, New Zealand to work in the animation department at Weta Digital. Several familiar faces are still there and many others have left, with new faces and new friendships forming in their place. With respect to work, it’s been back to business as usual, and it didn’t take long for me to pick up where I left off after having had a year away from previs and animation. Continue reading “Full-time” →

Yo.

Posted on by Ignacio B. Peña

Hi folks. First off, if you’re reading this: welcome, and thank you for taking the time to stop by. It’s been a few months now that I’ve been considering putting together a website and I finally hunkered down and made good on that resolution to myself.

As I continue to write and send out the stories I’ve written to various publications, it’s become an increasingly good idea for me to have a place online to send people to.  Continue reading “Yo.” →