Sometimes when delivering good news, the writer will try to
couch things in a modest, respectful tone—“oh, I’m so lucky” or, “oh, I’m so
grateful.”
Don’t get me wrong:
I’m definitely grateful, and I’m feeling lucky. This is a tough business, and luck is as
important here as anywhere else. And
being from the Midwest, I try to be modest and respectful, hogging attention
for myself only carefully and studiously.
But. This is big and
happy news, and I’ve got to drop the qualifiers and celebrate:
My manuscript of short stories won the 2015
Drue Heinz Literature Prize! My
book, THIS ANGEL ON MY CHEST, will be published in the fall of 2015 by the
University of Pittsburgh Press! Oh, yay!
Read more
about the University of Pittsburgh Press here, and see the official
announcement.
Here is
more information about the founder of the prize, Drue Heinz, who is also
the publisher of the Paris Review.
Here are three of the stories that appear in THIS ANGEL ON
MY CHEST:
From Shenandoah,
flash fiction: “Acquiescence”
From The Sun,
short fiction: “Ten Things”
From r.kv.r.y,
short fiction: “I Am the
Widow”
