Through a long career of teaching and environmental justice activism, Rick Whaley has always treasured stories of place—be they nature reveries, biographies of environmentalists, fiction where the setting is a character or a driver of conflict, or Prof. John Gleeson’s UW-M Celtic Studies classes. He chooses to write short stories under the pseudonym Owen Aibric because 1) some stories are better told in fiction, 2) He needs to get out of his political-correctness, call-to-action mindset, to write creatively, and 3) He likes to claim his Irish American heritage, especially for the Holy Hill story.

Owen is the progeny of a journalist mother who gave him novels to read to get him through his teenage years. He is the product of great high school English teachers (Wausau) and literature profs at UW Madison, and a veteran of the Redbird and Red Oak writing networks.

Since retiring, he gardens, writes, and encourages Monarchs (the butterfly kind). He and his wife teach reading to grandchildren and great grandchildren, discover hiking trails in the Milwaukee area, and try to stay healthy and be of use.

In his political/environmental life, Rick Whaley has co-authored the award-winning Walleye Warriors: The Chippewa Treaty Rights Story.  In his fiction writing life under the pseudonym Owen Aibric, his 2021 Wisconsin Writer’s Association Jade Ring award-winning short story, “Tying the Knot with No End.”  An updated copy of  WWA’s  2021 Creative Wisconsin Anthology  (with contest winners) is available from Amazon.com ($10).

Owen Aibric’s first short story, “Sewing Shop of Violet” was published online with Story-Quilt in January, 2020: https://www.story-quilt.com/category/fiction/   (hyphen is key to finding patchwork of stories instead of quilt designs)

Walleye Warriors was written with the late Walt Bresette, Chippewa environmentalist and treaty rights activist.  In that book, the chapters alternate between Walt’s indigenous voice and Rick’s white ally’s voice.  Walleye Warriors won the 1993 Council for Wisconsin Writer’s Book-length Non-Fiction Award.  Rick’s second non-fiction book, How Green Is the Green Party: Stories from the Margin (2007), includes Irish/Wisconsin bioregional storytelling and Green Party/movement short essays.  Both books are available from Beech River Books in New Hampshire: https://beechriverbooks.com

Most of the author’s stories, fiction and non-fiction, center on Place.

Read Owen Aibric’s prize-winning story:

Tying the Knot with No End

Judge’s Comments:

There were so many incredibly strong pieces in contention for this year’s contest, but one in particular captivated me. Tying the Knot With No End, with its electric prose, immersive and vibrant setting, complex, finely-tuned characters, and expertly-layered subtext stayed with me long after I finished reading. As Abby and Zak teeter on the precipice of their relationship, the story takes on a sort of free-floating melancholy — a sense that choices not yet made are already being regretted. In doing so, it achieves that elusive effect Eudora Welty says is the prime objective of any great short story: to offer “some fresh approximation of human truth,” which it delivers in spades. 

Erin Cellelo