Tara Mantel is an editor, fiction writer, and screenwriter.
Tara's fiction has appeared in TriQuarterly, Quarterly West, Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Harpur Palate, The Gettysburg Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Confrontation, and The William and Mary Review. In 2006, she was the recipient of a full writing fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center.
Her story "These Woods" was a finalist for the 2006 John Gardner Fiction Prize, and her story "Negotiations" was a semifinalist for the 2007 Mid-American Review Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award. In 2009, her story "Confessions" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and received an honorable mention.
Tara's scripts have placed in several major competitions. Her feature-length script "The Awakening," an adaptation of Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening (1899), was a semifinalist in the 2006 WriteMovies screenwriting contest, a 2nd Rounder in the 2007 Austin Film Festival, and a quarterfinalist in the AAA contest, sponsored by Creative Screenwriting magazine.
"Positive Energy," a drama for an ensemble cast, was also a semifinalist in the 2006 WriteMovies contest and was a quarterfinalist in the 2005 Scriptapalooza contest.
Tara has also written several short-film scripts. One of them, a 17-minute drama called "Petty Crime," was produced in 2009. Other scripts include "Eco-Friendly," a mockumentary about the making of a pornographic science fiction film, and "Silence," an erotic horror script.
Tara received her MFA in fiction writing from the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. She is currently working on a linked short-story collection and her third feature-length film script.