Third Coast's 2012 Jaimy Gordon Fiction Prize has been announced, and I love the title of the winning story - "Abandoned Cars" by CJ Hauser. Perhaps inside her story is the old truck I've been looking for. Count me in as happy to have a story included among the Fiction Finalists.
Virginia Woolf, Inspiration, & AROHO's Orlando Prize for Short Fiction
A Room of Her Own (AROHO), a foundation taking its name from Virginia Woolf's credo that women must find the space, means, and solace in order to create, holds a writing competition for women poets, essayists, and short story writers each spring and fall. That Virginia Woolf, a writer who has always inspired me, and a foundation for women writers and artists have come together in such a perfect and telling way is extraordinary. This spring I've had the honor of receiving AROHO's Orlando Prize in Short Fiction for the story, "The Geography of First Kisses." I'm in awe of this award and all it promises, and in receiving it, I'm further bolstered to keep writing and reading and being a part of the literary world.
The Orlando Prize Winners will be published in the Los Angeles Review, Issue 12, in Fall 2012. Thereafter, the winning pieces will be posted on AROHO's website.
"AROHO is a transformational collective that changes the lives of creative women by honoring our artistic excellence and moving us out of isolation to a rich and whole community."
http://aroomofherownfoundation.org/the-geography-of-first-kisses-by-karin-davidson/
Nikky Finney – 2011 National Book Award Winner for Poetry – Head Off & Split
Last night Nikky Finney was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for her collection, Head Off & Split. Inside the crisp white cover is the first of three sections: The Hard-Headed. And this morning my fingers found their way through the first pages, past fish scales and seamstress pins and truth, to the poem, “Left.” I read and felt as though I'd been punched in the stomach. The kind of punch that brings you out of your chair to stand, still and breathless. To pause and then to realize that you're still alive while they're not. The three on that New Orleans rooftop. Another three for the 1,836. The kind of punch that leaves you winded and brought, once more, to your senses.
Pleas Help Pleas
Three words for the three stranded, the e already gone in the high waters.
Nikky Finney’s power rises and slaps. The shore I tumbled on as a child, strolled along as a young woman, the low levee of Lake Pontchartrain, has a different meaning. All changed by the uncompromising cameras, the way the nearly two thousand were left to their own. The poetry calls it up again, and the water lines are clear again.
Awarded the National Book Award for Poetry, for the book that gives voice to the many who have been silenced. Strong stuff. This poet has words in her pockets and her pockets are deep. We are not done hearing from Nikky Finney. It is a sure thing that she has plenty more to say and I for one am waiting for her next exclamation, her next whisper.
Her acceptance speech, a poem unto itself, a slew of incredible gratitude and veritas, is a hint of what is to come. What a woman of words. Again, I am reeling.
Video of 2011 NBA acceptance speeches:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/11/national-book-awards-2011-video.html