Garrett Ruley Wins the 2010 Book Arts Bash

by Nezzie Covington

      The first time I met Garrett Ruley, he was standing next to a cello that was bigger than he was.  It was the first day of Asheville`s Youth Orchestra, and we were waiting apprehensively, armed with our weapons: mine, a violin. His: a cello.  The very first memory I have of Garrett is when, in the most polite and gentlemanly way, he stuck out his hand to me and said “nice to meet you!”

      All through the years from then, Garrett was the incredibly nice, friendly, and quiet boy who could usually be found with his nose in a book.

      In January of 2010, Garrett and his family moved to Slovenia where his dad had taken a temporary teaching position.  Slovenia is a small European country nestled in among Italy, Croatia, Hungary, and Austria; the Ruleys are currently living in the capitol city of Ljubljana.  When he got to Slovenia, Garrett began documenting his experience in his blog, “Ziveti Slovenija”, or, “Living Slovenia”. As I read the many postings on his blog, I began to realize how good a writer he is.  But none of us, not even Garrett, could have expected that something big was to come into his life. 

        In October of 2009, Garrett found out about a contest that would make quite an impact on his writing career.  He discovered it on the homeschooling community`s email loop. The Book Arts Bash is a national contest that anyone from kindergarten (age 5) to twelfth grade (age 17) can enter.  The initial round of judging was done by many prominent authors and editors, including Holly Black (author of the Spiderwick Chronicles and many other books and graphic novels) and Lois Lowery (author of the well known trilogy of The Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger). 

        So, Garrett entered his novel, Hollin. When I asked Garrett what made him decide to enter the contest, he responded: “I entered it because I had already written my book and was trying to figure out what to do with it and if anyone else would like to read it.”                       

      Garrett got the idea for his story from a pretend game he played with his friends at the school he used to go to, New Classical Academy. This was in the school year of 2006 – 2007, during which he turned 11.  It was a medieval game that the whole school played on Fridays, in a bamboo copse.  It was then that Garrett put his idea to paper, and began writing.  It took him two and a half years to write, and he finished last year, shortly before his thirteenth birthday. 

     The story, which is a literary fantasy consisting of an astonishing 257 pages, follows a boy named Hollin, and his journey to warriorship.  Hollin is helped by a strong connection to the Earth, and also his fierce and witty Griffin named Maple.  He is initially trained by his enlightened grandfather, Blueberry, and then at the warrior academy of Lunikoura.  To some, the story of Hollin and his journey to warriorhood can closely relate to Garrett`s own journey: from getting the idea while standing in the middle of a bamboo thicket, to learning the craft of writing, entering a national contest—and winning.

        Last year, the Book Arts Bash was open to many different genres of writing, but they got so many novel entries that this year it was a novel only contest.  There was a panel of 8 judges, and only one round of judging.  The judges selected the top five novels in each category to be finalists, and then chose the best out of each category as the overall winner. The eight judges were Sara Gruen, Holly Black, Joshilyn Jackson, Karen Abbott, Michal D’Orso, Dan Elish, Melissa Wiley, and Caryn Karmatz – Rudy.  This year, approximately 125 young writers entered the contest.

           In March, Garrett found out that he was one of the finalists.  Everyone held their breath for a whole month, and then on April 1st, the winners were announced.  Garrett checked the website and found his name posted as the 2010 winner of the Book Arts Bash! For recognition, Garrett received $100 and a professional critique of his book.

           For all of us here at the Write Site, we are proud to have Garrett as part as our Write Site, having one of our own founders and current staff win such a notable honor. We’ll be posting an excerpt from Hollin in the near future. Will Hollin be available for you to buy one day? We hope so and we’ll be the first to let you know!