Franklin High School sophomore Saanvi Reddy has been awarded Third Place in the High School division of the 4th Annual Liminal Essay Contest, sponsored by author S. K. Kruse. Reddy's essay, "Liminality: a Rising Tide," was recognized for its evocative and perceptive exploration of threshold experience.
Reddy's essay responds to S. K. Kruse's short story "Goodbye, Bonavento," exploring how liminal experience—the state of being between what was and what has not yet come—can swell and intensify over time, like a rising tide. Contest judge Timothy Carson praised all of the high school finalists for meeting the complexity of the source material with honesty and depth.
"By engaging with this powerful story these young writers toured the haunted halls of liminality which are never simple, easy or even solvable. So very often liminality is a condition as much as a passage. And that, as so much literature of the ages testifies, holds equal measures of tragedy and hope. In one way or another all of these writers walked the line between those magnetized poles."
—Judge Timothy Carson
Reddy's achievement is particularly notable as a sophomore competing against older students in the high school division.
The Liminal Essay Contest, now in its fourth year, invites high school writers to explore the concept of liminality—the experience of threshold, transition, and in-between states—through close reading of selected literary works. This year's contest was based on S. K. Kruse's short story "Goodbye, Bonavento." To read the winning essays and learn more about the contest, visit
www.skkruse.com/liminalessaycontest.
For more information, contact S. K. Kruse at skkruse.com.
