{"id":111,"date":"2019-07-17T18:17:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/2015housatonicbookawards\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:17:52","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:17:52","slug":"2015housatonicbookawards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/2015housatonicbookawards\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 Housatonic Book Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 The Western Connecticut State University<\/a> Master of Fine Arts in Creative and Professional Writing<\/a> (M.F.A.) program opened the second Housatonic Book Awards<\/a> nomination period in cooperation with the M.F.A. Alumni Writer\u2019s Cooperative (AWC) on Sunday, March 15. The awards will honor one recipient in each of four areas: fiction, nonfiction, poetry and writing for middle grades and young adults. Any author, publisher, editor or literary agent may nominate a title in any of the four genres before the deadline on Monday, June 15. The recipient in each category will receive $1,500, will give a public reading and will conduct a workshop with Western M.F.A. students.<\/p>\n

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The mission of the awards is to promote excellent writing, identify authors who serve as professional role models for writing students, and develop the WCSU M.F.A. in Creative and Professional Writing Program scholarship fund. Ron Samul, president of the AWC, said the awards have a dual function. \u201cWe are happy to be able to bring four excellent writers to Danbury each year via the awards,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it is also important that the awards will help to build our new scholarship fund, which will support students in the M.F.A. program financially and help build enrollment in the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Recipients of the awards will appear on the WCSU campus in January and August, during the M.F.A. program\u2019s residency periods, according to M.F.A. Coordinator Brian Clements. \u201cThe awards will continue the M.F.A. program\u2019s tradition of bringing excellent authors to Danbury, as we already have done with the appearances of 2014 winners Gail Martin<\/a> and Jennifer duBois<\/a>. These awards are increasing national awareness of the M.F.A. program, the university and the region.\u201d <\/p>\n

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The 2014 winners were duBois, for her fiction title \u201cCartwheel,\u201d Martin for her poetry collection \u201cBegin Empty-Handed,\u201d Mardi Jo Link<\/a> for her nonfiction title \u201cBootstrapper,\u201d and A.B. Westrick<\/a> for her young-adult title \u201cBrotherhood.\u201d Link and Westrick will conduct readings at the August 2015 residency in Danbury. <\/p>\n

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The awards were first conceived upon the formation of the M.F.A. program\u2019s alumni group in January 2014. The AWC and the M.F.A. program operate the awards and select the winners, following the Ethical Guidelines of the Council of Literary Magazines and Publishers. Recipients of the 2015 awards will be announced in October.<\/p>\n

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Nomination guidelines are available at http:\/\/housatonicbookawards.wordpress.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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For more information, contact Cara Petitti at (203) 837-8878 or petitti004@connect.wcsu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s best small private universities.<\/em><\/p>\n

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