Matt Kendrick
Writer | Editor | Teacher
WELKIN GENRE PRIZE 2026 - WINNER OF THE FIREFLY PRIZE
And Also, In the Woods a Spaceship Landed
by Jo Withers
On the night they came, I was coiled tight upstairs. As everyone followed their light to the woods, I concertinaed my constricting womb, tried to hold in our baby.
Next day, when I’d changed the blood-spotted sheets and washed my new, uninhabited body, people returned with their stories. It was magical, they said, there was divine peace within their glowing harmony. I had to see it myself, feel what they felt.
So, I walked slow and fragile to the woodland, stood in the centre of their mile-long crater. One sprawling, incomprehensible emptiness, and me, a speck in an enormous void.
Jo Withers writes short fiction and poetry from her home in South Australia. Recent work features in the Newcastle Poetry Prize Anthology.
Judge's comment:
Reading “And Also, In the Woods A Spaceship Landed” was a journey! The intriguing title captured my attention right away, and then I was hit by the wonderful verb “concertinaed.” I admire the way the author paired a fantastical, exciting event with one so utterly personal and heartbreaking. This contrast creates a powerful emotional gut punch. The final image lands beautifully, with heightened language that captures a depth of feeling. And that, of course, led me back to the title, where I found a new layer of resonance as the true tragedy came into full focus.
