New Awards for Creative Writing Students

Recent prizes and publications from the MFA program.

The MFA program in Creative Writing recently announced its 2009 student prize winners.

Kimberly O'Connor took first prize in the American Academy of Poets Prize, selected by Arthur Sze. Melissa Nyman and Karl Zuehlke were named honorable mentions.

The winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction, chosen by Joan Silber, is Sarah Fang. Basit Chaudhry and Laryssa Wirstiuk picked up honorable mentions.

O'Connor and Fang will each receive an honorarium of $100, and all of the winners will read on May 6 at the final Writers Here & Now reading for the 2008-2009 season. The event will be held at 7:00PM in the Special Events Room on the 6th floor of McKeldin Library.

In addition to the Porter Prize, Fang has been selected to participate in the New York State Summer Writers' Institute at Skidmore College. Fang is one of twenty collegiate participants that will be descending on Saratoga Springs this June to take part in the prestigious workshop, founded by William Kennedy. Russell Banks, Jamaica Kincaid, Michael Ondaatje, Charles Simic, and our own Howard Norman are among the visiting writers and writers-in-residence attending the 2009 Institute. You can read more about NYSSWI here.


In other Creative Writing news, Willie Davis (MFA 2008) has recently published in The Kenyon Review. His story, "The Rabid Dog," is currently featured on Kenyon Review Online, and can be read in full here. Davis is currently a lecturer in the department.