James Crews Wins Prairie Schooner Prize

We're so happy to be able to share the word that James Crews (MFA in poetry) has received the 2010 Prairie Schooner Book Prize for his collection The Book of What Stays. The collection will be published by the University of Nebraska Press.

James is the author of the chapbooks One Hundred Small Yellow Envelopes, What Has Not Left Yet, and Bending the Knot. The Book of What Stays will be his first full-length book.

Congrats to James!

Jesse Lee Receives WLA Award

The Wisconsin Library Association has selected Professor Jesse Lee Kercheval's Cinema Muto for its Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Award. The award is given to a 2009 publication by a Wisconsin author and recognizes "literary merit as well as the quality of the writing, editing, printing, and publishing," making it an award for Crab Orchard Press, too.

Congratulations, Jesse Lee!

Article Celebrates Past Derleth Prize Winners

August Derleth (pictured above) was, as any UW-Madison writer knows, a prolific and multi-talented Wisconsin writer. Each spring the August Derleth Society awards a $1,000 prize for outstanding writing in the tradition of Aug (as the Society calls him) to one of our graduate students. In its June issue, the Society's Journal has a wonderful article about the prize's recipients from Doyle Wesley Walls, the first winner in 1986, to current MFA poet Kai Carlson-Wee, the 2010 recipient. The article not only names all the past Derleth prize winners, but catches us up on what many of them are doing now. It's a really nice walk down memory lane, especially for those of us who have worked with many of the winners.

New Book News: the Danielle and Aimee Edition

Congrats to former fiction fellow Danielle Evans on receiving a starred review from Kirkus for her forthcoming story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self. You can read the entire review here.

And more congrats to former poetry fellow Aimee Nezhukumatathil: her third volume of poetry, The Secret of Soil will be released in January 2011 by Tupelo Press.

Former fiction fellows Miriam Gershow and Susanna Daniel along with Randy Susan Meyers are fulfilling their Dear Abby fantasies. They will be answering questions and sharing their experiences about the mysterious process of publishing that first book. You can visit them here on Book Diva.

New Pages Reviews Stories by UW-Mad Writers

Stories in Avery 5 by former fiction fellow Stuart Nadler and only-just-graduated fiction MFA Alyssa Knickerbocker are singled out for praise in a review in the June issue of New Pages. Alyssa's prose, in fact, is called both Hemingway-esque and Nabokovian. We, of course, are looking forward to the time when critics praise emerging writers as being Knickerbockerian.

Scroll down a bit further to see the review of "The Year of the Body" which appears in Sou'wester and is by another only-just-graduated fiction MFA Jake Wolff. Actually, since this is Jake's first published story, I think I'll just copy the entire paragraph here:

"The Year of the Body,” by Jake Wolff, is the author’s first published story, and if it’s a sign of what’s to come, Wolff is a name to seek out in future publications. He has done a masterful job with a story of some complexity (a gay couple encounters a kidnapping victim years after her disappearance when they were children) in terms of pace, timing, and detail."

Nice. And, yes, reviewer--it is a sign of things to come.

Tony Doerr on the Short Story

Anthony Doerr, former Institute fiction fellow, talks about his new story collection Memory Wall and writing in this very interesting article. Also, it's the first time we've seen Tony's name coupled with Sasquatch.

Check out Rigoberto Gonzalez's review of former poetry fellow John Murillo's collection Up Jump the Boogie in the El Paso Times.

Black Warrior Review: "Sixth-Ever Writing Contest"

Black Warrior Review writes:

The Sixth-Ever Black Warrior Review Contest has begun! Send us your dearest-beloved (stories/poems/essays)!

Guest Judges for 2010 are

Claudia Rankine (Poetry)

Peter Markus (Fiction)

and our FIRST EVER NONFICTION Contest Judge

Lia Purpura

Payment must be made online (the Submission Manager will direct you to do so).

To Submit your Work or for more details and guidelines, please visit: http://www.bwr.ua.edu

Winners in each genre will receive $1,000 and publication in the Spring/Summer 2011 issue. Finalists in each category will receive notation in the Spring/Summer 2011 issue and are also considered for publication.

Reading Fee is $15 per short story (up to 7500 words), $15 per nonfiction piece (up to 7500 words), and $15 per group of up to 3 poems.

All contestants will also receive a complimentary one-year subscription (That's $1 less than conventional subscriptions!) Submissions close on September 1, 2010.

Oxford American ♡s Emma, Alyssa and Beth Ann

In the current Oxford American, writer and inveterate list-maker Kevin Brockmeier names former MFA Emma Straub's Fly-Over State as one of his ten favorite "Very Great Short Books"--and also gives a shout out to other-former-MFA Alyssa Knickerbocker's Your Rightful Home.

In the same issue of the Oxford American you'll find former poetry fellow Beth Ann Fennelly's list of ten of the steamiest, sexiest moments in southern literature.

Got any top ten lists re: literature you'd like to share? That's what the comments feature is for.