Prairie Schooner, NU Press announce annual fiction, poetry award winners

Prairie Schooner and the University of Nebraska Press have announced the winners and runners-up for their annual awards for books of short fiction and poetry. The winners were chosen from almost 2,000 submissions from around the world.

The winner of the 2008 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in short fiction is Anne Finger for her manuscript, "Call Me Ahab." She will receive a $3,000 prize and publication by the University of Nebraska Press. Finger has published four other books, including two works of nonfiction, "Elegy for a Disease: A Personal and Cultural History of Polio" (St. Martin's Press) and "Past Due: A Story of Disability, Pregnancy and Birth" (Seal Press); a collection of short stories, "Basic Skills" (University of Missouri Press); and a novel, "Bone Truth" (Coffee House Press). She has taught creative writing at Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Texas, as a writer-in-residence at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Independent Living Resource Center, and in elementary, middle, and high schools. She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Djerassi, Centrum, and Hedgebrook. Her short fiction has appeared in the Southern Review, Kenyon Review, and Ploughshares, among other journals.

The runner-up in the fiction category is Michael Kardos for his manuscript, "One Last Good Time." He will receive a $1,000 prize. Kardos's short stories have appeared in the Southern Review, Short Story, Crazyhorse, Blackbird, and Florida Review, among other journals, and he has received awards from Prism International, Gulf Coast, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Santa Fe Writers Project. He is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Mississippi State University.

The winner of the 2008 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in poetry is Kara Candito for her manuscript, "Taste of Cherry." She will receive a $3,000 prize and publication by the NU Press. Her poems and critical prose have appeared or are forthcoming in Best New Poets 2007, Poet Lore, the Florida Review and the Pedestal Review. She has received awards for her poetry, including an Academy of American Poets prize and a scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She has worked in the publishing industry in New York City, taught English as a second language in Rome and earned a master of fine arts degree in poetry from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a Ph.D. candidate in English at Florida State University, where she specializes in poetry and literary theory.

The runner-up in the poetry category is Adrian Matejka for his manuscript, "Mixology." He will receive a $1,000 prize. Matejka is a Cave Canem fellow and the author of "The Devil's Garden" (Alice James Books, 2003). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in the American Poetry Review, Crab Orchard Review, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review and Pleiades. He teaches creative writing and English literature at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

The competition, in its sixth year, runs Jan. 15 to March 15 annually. Submission details and a list of past winners are available online at http://prairieschooner.unl.edu/prizes/index.html.

Founded in 1927, Prairie Schooner is a national literary quarterly published with the support of the English Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Press. It publishes fiction, poetry, essays and reviews by beginning, mid-career and established writers. For more information, visit http://prairieschooner.unl.edu.