Edward Gorey Challenge

We have a delightful surprise for you today, crumpets.

Hats made of bird skulls?

No, darling. This week in honor of Mr. Sir Dearest Edward Gorey we will be having a challenge based around him – or more so his work.

For those new to his work Gorey was a "negligibly" trained artist born on February 22, 1925.

I was already skinning coconuts with my talons by then.


Yes, Tex, you are terribly old. 

And clever.

And clever. Gorey inherited his talents from his great-grandmother who was a card-maker.

Coconut skin lampshade-maker, me.

His devastating talent to draw macabre illustrations for hauntingly sweet stories cemented his fame and glory for all time. Edward Gorey passed away April 15, 2000. Please see examples of his work below.

Image #1

Image #2

Image #3

The challenge for this week is to write a story up to 500 words depicting what you think is happening in the above images illustrated by Gorey in the sequence that they're in. Tex will take to nibbling the toes of people who do not obey this rule.

Artists, do not feel left out! Our challenge for you this week is to come up with a piece that represents what you see in your wonderful creative mind when you read one of these lines from Edward Gorey:

"It's well we cannot hear the screams we make in other people's dreams."


"Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin."


I should like a parsley sandwich. To the best of my knowledge they are not in season."


One image can be submitted per person. Please check the Submit Work page under "Dimensions" to see how you should submit your image.

Deadline for submissions: Sunday, May 22nd, 2011. The winners will be announced the following Monday, May 30th.

With your submission please put in the subject line "Edward Gorey Challenge".

You can submit your work as a word document or directly in the email to junipertreelit@gmail.com and please forgive us in advance if we don't write back to you immediately. Tex is fairly anal about reading and viewing everything we get. With your submission please tell us a little bit about yourself.

For the rest of the guidelines and what should not be submitted, go to our Submit Work page.