PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize Winner :: Our New Issue :: AWP Update
Verity McKay is a PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize winner! Stop by the AWP booth & buy a journal! Join us for tea at our off-site reading! So many exclamation points!
Cover image by Kelcey Parker Ervick
Verity McKay’s “Filth” is one of 12 short stories awarded the 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers (judged by Venita Blackburn, Richard Chiem, and Dantiel W. Moniz).
Read “Filth.”
Congratulations Verity! And kudos to our sharp-eyed editors!
From the PEN.org website:
The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes 12 emerging writers each year for their debut short story published in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website, and aims to support the launch of their careers as fiction writers. The 12 winning stories are selected by a committee of three judges who are well-respected experts in the art of the short story. The winning writers each receive a $2,000 cash prize and will be published by Catapult in their annual anthology, Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize.
The prize is generously supported by the family of the late Robert J. Dau, whose commitment to the literary arts has made him a fitting namesake for this career-launching prize. Inspired by Dau’s hometown in northern Michigan and its proximity to Walloon Lake, where Ernest Hemingway spent much time and derived inspiration from, the prize promotes emerging voices and spotlights the next generation of fiction writers.
Read the excellent work of our AWP off-site featured readers: Karen Halvorsen Schreck’s “Cold Union,” Brad Richard’s “Zinnias,” an interview with Donna Miscolta (by Rachel Swearingen), and Desiree Cooper’s “We Have Lost Too Many Wigs.”
Our new issue is out with work by contributors Jordan Nishkian, Laura Hawbaker, Will Neal, Andréa Rivard, Erin Miller, Brian K. Hauser, Alex Sese, Odette Lester Brady, Allison Vincent, Calla Nell Preece, Richard Goodwin, Kathleen Rooney, E. Hughes, Virginia Bell, Natasha Mijares, Jessica L. Walsh, Teresa Scollon, Fleda Brown, Teresa Scollon, Elissa Field, Jamey Temple, Joey Garcia, Melissa Nunez, Amie McGraham, Carson Ovalle, and Sydney Koeplin.
Our online issue features spot illustrations by Nora Kelly.
Today’s writing prompt: If they’d only turned left instead of right, they wouldn’t be in this predicament.