Each year, we gain respect for the responsibility of reading prize entries. We receive creative work in a creative spirit. To all of the writers who submitted, wherever they find themselves on the continuum of skill and confidence, please know that your work was carefully considered, appreciated, and wished well. We’re grateful to Patrick Ryan […]
A review by Ginger Eager The Dream Life of Astronauts. Patrick Ryan. The Dial Press. 2016. 272 pp. $26.00 (hardback). Patrick Ryan’s new collection, The Dream Life of Astronauts, is set on Merritt Island, Florida, a tiny strip of loamy flatland that was home to citrus farms until John F. Kennedy called a […]
And with judges Patrick Ryan in fiction and Jill Talbot in nonfiction, the Lamar York Prizes are opportunities that shouldn’t be missed. For more information, visit our guidelines.
Reading Lamar York entries is often uplifting because many contain quirks and traces of what we’re after when we read. Our editors and faculty readers voted multiples times in honor of the breadth and quality of the writing. The finalists below represent the many ambitions and approaches we’d like to take a moment to appreciate […]
If you’re resolved to get your work out there more, our Lamar York Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction close January 31st. Winners receive $1,000 each and publication in Volume 36.1. For guidelines, visit our Prizes or Submittable page.
2015 Lamar York Prize Winner Amy D. Clark on research and the writing process. I am eternally nostalgic about my childhood. I grew up among storytellers; I knew my great-great grandfather and sat at the knees of my great-grandparents until I was in my thirties. The well of family history that inspires my nonfiction […]
2015 Lamar York Prize Winner Joel Wayne on revision and the writing process. When I was younger, I didn’t like revisions. You hear it enough times from older writers – the ones who’ve had a dozen books published, or simply a story or two – and it begins to feel like your dentist flipping you […]
