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2015 Winners of 2015 Housatonic Book Awards announced


DANBURY, CONN. — The Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing program at Western Connecticut State University and its alumni organization, the M.F.A. Alumni Writers Collaborative, have announced the winners and finalists of the 2015 Housatonic Book Awards.

Winners will appear at writing residencies of the WCSU M.F.A. in Creative and Professional Writing in 2016 for public readings and master classes on the university’s Westside campus in Danbury.

According to Dr. Brian Clements, M.F.A. program coordinator, the Housatonic Book Awards recognize excellent writing by authors who also serve as role models for students interested in professional careers as writers.

“Students at WCSU and the regional community have the opportunity through these awards to hear, meet and work with some of the top writers of the day — an opportunity that isn’t offered much in the area elsewhere. And our students have the opportunity to pick the brains of people who have gone through exactly the educational and professional growing pains that our students are experiencing.”

The award series also helps to raise funds for the M.F.A. program’s scholarship fund.

Dr. Joe Klemczewski, a graduate of the program and president of the MFA Alumni Writers Collaborative, said, “I can say from personal experience that this program changes lives. By raising these scholarship funds through the book awards, we hope to be able to help more students reap the benefits of the program who might not have been able to do so otherwise.”

This year’s fiction award was limited to nominations of genre fiction; in 2016, the fiction award will be open only to nominations of literary fiction. Guidelines for next year’s awards will appear at https://housatonicbookawards.wordpress.com in early 2016.

A complete list of winners and finalists follows.

Fiction (Genre Fiction)

Winner: “Red 1-2-3,” by John Katzenbach, Grove Atlantic

Finalists:

“The Rest Is Silence,” by James Benn, Soho Press

“The Forgers,” by Bradford Morrow, Grove Atlantic

“The Nature of Truth,” by Sergio Troncoso, Arte Publico Press

“Island Fog,” by John Vanderslice, Lavender Ink

Poetry

Winner: “If the Tabloids Are True What Are You?” by Matthea Harvey, Graywolf Press

Finalists:

“Tree Line,” by Judy Halebsky, New Issues Press

“Bone Map,” by Sara Eliza Johnson, Milkweed Editions

“To the Bramble and the Briar,” by Steve Scafidi, University of Arkansas Press

“Complicity,” by Adam Sol, McClelland & Stewart

Nonfiction

Winner: “The Empathy Exams,” by Leslie Jamison, Graywolf Press

Finalists:

“Thrown,” by Kerry Howley, Sarabande Books

“Phoning Home,” by Jacob Appel, University of South Carolina Press

“Factory Man,” by Beth Macy, Hachette Book Group

“Knish: In Search of the Jewish Soul Food,” by Laura Silver, Brandeis Press

Young Adult

Winner: “Beauty of the Broken,” by Tawni Waters, Simon Pulse

Finalists:

“The Carnival at Bray,” by Jessie Ann Foley, Elephant Rock Books

“Mending Horses,” by M.P. Barker, Holiday House Books

“Rory’s Promise,” by Michaela MacColl and Rosemary Nichols, Boyds Mill Press

“Steering Toward Normal,” by Rebecca Petruck, Abrams Amulet Books

For more information, contact Clements at (203) 837-8876 or clementsb@wcsu.edu.

 

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.