Aishlinn Parrinello ’23 has been named a finalist in the Thornton Wilder Writing Competition. Winners will be announced at the end of the month. 

The competition, now in its 32nd year, is hosted by the Friends of the Hamden Library in honor of Thornton Wilder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and playwright and longtime resident of Hamden, Connecticut. 

For Parrinello, being named as a finalist came as a surprise. She said she submitted a personal poem to the competition just days before the application deadline. 

“I picked this piece because I really liked it,” she admitted. “I submitted it last minute, didn’t really tell anybody, and I found out a couple of days ago that it was a finalist. I was really happy.” 

But Parrinello has not always been a fan of poetry, she added. Her passion previously was in fiction writing. 

“I’ve always loved writing. I wasn’t always a huge fan of poetry. I used to love fiction stories—which I still do—but, now that I’m older, I really do love writing poetry and prose,” Parrinello said. “I love the power of words. So much can be expressed with just a couple of words. How you say things can hold a lot of meaning.” 

Parrinello said she wrote the poem late last year. The idea arose one day, and she quickly began to write. After revising her work, she considered submitting it to different competitions. She found out about the Thornton Wilder competition after being introduced to it by Wendy Swift, director of CA’s Center for Writing. 

“I first met Aishlinn when she came to the writing center this fall to have her work reviewed,” reflected Swift. “It was clear that she is a strong writer who focuses on refining her work to reflect her best efforts … I am delighted to learn that she is a finalist in the very competitive Thornton Wilder Writing Competition.”