The Posthumous Author Challenge Winners

As writers we spend plenty of time wondering our work will be received. The Posthumous Author asked what might happen when they’re no longer around to explain it.

Across the shortlisted pieces, reputations were built from unfinished manuscripts, private archives, family memories, critical disagreements and plenty of misunderstanding. Some writers were celebrated, some misread and others became people they might barely have even recognized.

The entries had a lot of fun seeing just how far a writer’s reputation can drift once they’re no longer around to argue with it.

🏆 Winners

The Re-Appraisal of Rachel Robbins by Rachel Robbins

The humor and personality make this imagined profile of a writer who only finds fame long after her death especially enjoyable. It’s playful with the premise, but Rachel still comes through as a complicated, believable person rather than just the subject of the joke.

if only by John Cox

This profile has a lot to say about what it means for a writer to find an audience they're gone. The irony behind John’s eventual success adds another layer, raising questions about authorship, legacy and who gets to claim the finished work.

Mandatory Training by D. J. Reddall

This was funny and unexpectedly mean take on the challenge, told by someone who seems almost relieved to be writing the author’s obituary. The grudging bits of admiration that slip through make the portrait feel all the more convincing.

Checkmate by Kristen Keenon Fisher

This piece uses the posthumous profile to revisit a writer who may have been misunderstood while he was alive. The mystery keeps getting stranger as it unfolds, without ever telling you exactly what to believe about Fisher.

The Last Misunderstanding of Laura Roodenburg by Laura Roodenburg

Laura Roodenburg is difficult to sum up, and it feels like that's exactly the point. The profile builds an affectionate portrait of a curious, restless writer whose work continues to invite questions long after she’s gone.

🎖️ Runners-up

• The Legend of Lewis by Harper Lewis

• Frankly, Dead by Nicky Frankly

• Fire Fragments of Caitlin Charlton by Caitlin Charlton

• Angrily Searching for Love by Tina D. Lopez

• A Story Worth Telling by Adam Kolozetti

• Another Mask for the Dead by Paul Stewart

• Evidence of a Life by Fatal Serendipity

• A Man of Many Interests by Gabriel Huizenga

• Blunt Words, Adventures and A Middle Finger by Andrea Corwin

• Until The Sun Explodes by jl wood

• The Life & Work of Amanda Starks by Amanda Starks

• The Death of the Author by Raistlin Allen

• The ghost who wrote in knives: by Chel Writes

• The Gorgeous Girl by Marie Wilson

• Vagabond Vs. The World by Vagabond Writes

🏅 Honorable Mentions

• He Was Rewritten After His Death by Tim Carmichael

• Why him? by Kendall Defoe

• The Author Who Never Believed She Was One by Sara Wilson

• The Writer I Could Have Been by Stephanie Hoogstad

• Seek me in the Matrix... Where My Consciousness now exists by Novel Allen

• In the wake of silence by Lamar Wiggins

• The woman who may or may not have insulted me by Cristal S.

• Deep Dive into the Glade by Amos Glade

• A Secretive Author Revealed by Jenifer Nim

• Fame Come Lately by Natasja Rose