[CW-Grad] $50,000 to a Mid-Career Writer

[Eva Konstantopoulos]

Got $50 Grand?
St. Francis College is pleased to announce the opening of submissions  
for the second, biannual St. Francis College Literary Prize which  
offers encouragement and significant financial support in the form of  
$50,000 to a mid-career writer, one of the richest prizes in the  
United States.

“We received several dozen submissions last time and feel we really  
spoke to a part of the writing community that greatly needed the  
attention and support the St. Francis Prize offers,” said Vice  
President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean Tim Houlihan.  
“Writers on their third to fifth book sit at a delicate crossroads  
where they can choose to continue to pursue their craft or head in  
different directions. We want to be the reason why a talented writer  
will continue to share their work with the world.”

The 2011 Prize will be awarded for an outstanding third to fifth book  
of published fiction. The jury will consider books published from July  
2009 to May 2011. Self-published books will be considered for award  
consideration as will English translations. A short list will be  
announced in mid-August 2011. The winner will be announced at the  
Brooklyn Book Festival in September 2011.

The first St. Francis College Literary Prize went to Aleksandar Hemon  
for his book, Love and Obstacles (Riverhead Books). Hemon, raised in  
Sarajevo and now residing in Chicago wrote his first work in English  
in 1995. “I was going to quit after this book now it turns out I'm mid- 
career,” said Hemon in his short, modest and humorous acceptance  
speech. “Thank you all for… exposing me to this embarrassing pleasure.  
I will keep writing, I guess I have no other choice.”

The first jury which selected Hemon’s work included Pulitzer Prize  
winner Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay),  
National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction winner Jonathan Lethem  
(Motherless Brooklyn), author and co-editor of The Believer magazine  
Heidi Julavits (The Uses of Enchantment: A Novel), author and  
professor at the MFA writing program at Columbia University Ben Marcus  
(Notable American Women) and New York Times bestselling author Ayelet  
Waldman (Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities  
and Occasional Moments of Grace). The new jury is currently being  
recruited.

The deadline for entries is May 1, 2011.

Inquiries can be made via email to Ian Maloney to:
imaloney at stfranciscollege.edu

Submissions (6 copies) should be mailed to:

Professor Ian Maloney
Department of English
St. Francis College
180 Remsen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
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