A DORCHESTER writer is to realise a dream of seeing a collection of her works in print after winning a literary competition.

Gail Aldwin’s work impressed the judges at the Winchester Writers’ Conference to claim first prize in the ‘slim volume, small edition’ competition.

The mother-of-two will now see her writing published and she is busy compiling her work which will be printed in 60 copies of a monochrome paperback book.

Gail’s work will feature a collection of short stories and ‘flash fiction’, really short pieces of fiction.

She has had her work published in other books before, such as the Dorset Voices collection of short stories, but it will be the first time a collection of just her work will go into print.

Gail said: “It was a lovely surprise.

“I have had various things published but to have an actual book with a collection of my own work will be fantastic.”

Gail, 51, began writing three years ago, starting with a novel and began writing shorter pieces as she turned to her second novel.

She said: “Writing at length is such a big undertaking. I have found over the last year it’s nice to write short pieces. It’s like an antidote to the slog of this long piece of work.”

Gail added: “I write about themes like homelessness, post natal depression, alcoholism and other quite heavy stuff.

“I want to right about things that are meaningful.”

Gail, who works in education, said she had invested a lot of time and energy into her writing over the last couple of years and was delighted to have received recognition for her efforts.

To check out Gail’s writing visit her blog at gailaldwin.wordpress.com