VERY. GOOD. NEWS.

Dear Friends and Fans,

I’m happy to report some extraordinarily good news today!

I was awarded 1st PRIZE in the PRESS 53 OPEN AWARDS contest for my short story, “My Father Calls Me Pequeña.”

This year’s judge was Ann Pancake. Her first novel, Strange As This Weather Has Been was one of Kirkus Review’s Top Ten Fiction Books of 2007, won the 2007 Weatherford Prize, and was a finalist for the 2008 Orion Book Award. Her collection of short stories, Given Ground received the 2000 Bakeless award. Pancake has also received a Whiting Award, an NEA grant, and a Pushcart Prize. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University.

Ann Pancake says of the winning story: “I love this piece for its song and its heart, for its constant surprises, and for how the child narrator embraces both magic and grief, how she desires but also accepts.  A beautiful story.”

Read more about this prize, the winners in other categories, and PRESS 53 by clicking here.

Additionally, advance copies of the 2010 Main Street Rag Publishing Company fiction anthology went on sale today. Over the past year, I have reviewed submissions from across the globe for this anthology, and feel very excited about the collection. Learn more about the publisher, the book, and sales by clicking here.

Thank you for your support of my work and for letting me share this news. The winning story will be available this fall in the Press 53 Open Awards Anthology and parts of it may be read next week on the Interlochen campus and this October in Winston-Salem, NC. For more details, use the link to my website on the right sidebar.

Sincerely,

Katey Schultz