Annual Prairie Schooner writing prizes announced

Prairie Schooner, the quarterly literary magazine published at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has announced the winners of 18 writing prizes for work published in 2009. The total prize money awarded was $8,500, with the highest individual prize worth $1,500.

The Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award ($1,500) was won by Robin Becker of Boalsburg, Pa., for her poems published in the summer and fall issues. Her sixth collection of poems, "Domain of Perfect Affection," was a finalist for the Audre Lorde and Lambda Book Awards. She writes a column on the poetry scene, "Field Notes," for the Women's Review of Books. This prize is made possible by the generosity of poet, publisher, and philanthropist Glenna Luschei.

The Lawrence Foundation Award ($1,000) was won by Lori Ostlund of San Francisco for the story "Idyllic Little Bali." Ostlund teaches creative writing at the California Art Institute-San Francisco. She received the 2008 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction for her collection, "The Bigness of the World." Other stories from the collection have appeared or are forthcoming in the Georgia Review, the Kenyon Review, New England Review, Hobart, and Blue Mesa Review.

Alicia Ostriker won the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing ($1,000) for her six poems in the summer issue. Ostriker's most recent book of poetry is "The Book of Seventy." She is also the author of "Stealing the Language: The Emergence of Women's Poetry in America." She teaches in the low-residency master of fine arts program at Drew University in Madison, N.J. The Faulkner Award is supported by charitable contributions to honor Virginia Faulkner, former editor-in-chief of the University of Nebraska Press and fiction editor at Prairie Schooner.

Linda Pastan was awarded the Edward Stanley Award ($1,000) for her four poems from the winter issue. Her 12th book of poems, "Queen of a Rainy Country," was published by Norton. She received the Ruth Lilly Prize in 2003 and was twice a finalist for the National Book Award. From 1991 to 1995 she was poet laureate of Maryland. Charitable contributions from the family of Edward Stanley, a member of the committee that founded Prairie Schooner in 1926, make this award possible.

The Bernice Slote Award ($500) for the best work by a beginning writer was won by Marly Swick for her story "Nothing Extra." Swick has published two story collections and two novels: "A Hole in the Language," "The Summer Before the Summer of Love," "Paper Wings," and "Evening News." Her short fiction has appeared in O'Henry Prize Stories, Atlantic Monthly, Best of the Best of the South and other magazines. A former faculty member at UNL, she is a professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The Slote Award is supported by the estate of Bernice Slote, Prairie Schooner editor from 1963 through 1980.

The Annual Prairie Schooner Strousse Award ($500) went to Rebecca Aronson of Albuquerque, N.M. She has poems recently published or forthcoming in American Poetry Journal, Gulfstream, and Satellite Convulsions. Her first book, "Creature, Creature," was published by Main-Traveled Roads Press. The Strousse Award is given in honor of Flora Strousse.

The Jane Geske Award ($250) was awarded to Stephen Dunn of Frostburg, Md., for five poems from the spring issue. Dunn is the author of 15 collections of poetry, including "What Goes On: Selected and New Poems, 1995-2009." His book, "Different Hours," won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001. The Jane Geske Award is given by Norman Geske in honor of his wife, a lifelong supporter of Nebraska's literary arts.

David Graham of Ripon, Wis., won the Hugh J. Luke Award ($250) for his two poems in the fall issue. He is the author of six collections of poems, most recently "Stutter Monk," and an essay anthology co-edited with Kate Sontag, "After Confessions: Poetry as Autobiography."

There were 10 winners of the Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Awards of $250 each. These awards are made possible through the generosity of Glenna Luschei.

* Susan Aizenberg of Omaha for three poems in the fall issue
* Jason Brown of Tucson, Ariz., for his short story, "The Flood," in the summer issue
* Breja Gunnison of Beloit, Wis., for her story, "My Life Among the Bodies," in the winter issue
* Caitlin Horrocks of Grand Rapids, Mich., for her story, "Steal Small," in the summer issue
* Sarah Kennedy of Fairfield, Va., for two poems in the winter issue
* Joy Ladin of Amherst, Mass., for her essay, "The God Thing," in the winter issue
* Paul Lisicky of New York City for his short story in the fall issue.
* Emmanuel Moses (translator Marilyn Hacker) of Paris, France, for four poems in the winter issue
* Aimee Nezhukumatathil of Freedonia, N.Y., for two poems in the winter issue
* Lee Zacharias of Greensboro, N.C., for her essay, "A Grand Canyon," in the spring issue

Prairie Schooner is available at chain and independent bookstores throughout the country. Subscriptions or individual copies may be ordered by calling (800) 715-2387. More information about the magazine is available at http://prairieschooner.unl.edu. Prairie Schooner is published with support from the UNL English Department and its creative writing program, the University of Nebraska Press, and the Glenna Luschei Endowed Editorship and Fund for Excellence at Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska Foundation.