Dzanc Books

Dzanc Day - March 20, 2010

On the heels of announcing the winner of this year's Dzanc Prize, Dzanc Books is proud to announce Dzanc Day!

The following is the Press Release being sent out to print and online media sources:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

ANNOUNCING DZANC DAY:  MARCH 20, 2010

 

January 21, 2010, Ann Arbor, MI - Dzanc Books, the award-winning publishing house, is pleased to announce our latest project: DZANC DAY.  Dzanc's new effort to expand our mission and bring the creative world to a national audience, DZANC DAY, takes its cue from the popularity of our Dzanc Creative Writing Sessions.  On March 20, 2010, Dzanc will run over 30 creative writing workshops in 25 cities across the country.  These workshops will be held in cities from Portland, OR to Orlando, FL, from New Haven, CT to Los Angeles, CA and points between. 

All monies raised from DZANC DAY will go toward supporting Dzanc's charitable programs which, in part, bring creative writing programs to students who could not otherwise afford the opportunity.  Fantastic authors from across the country have volunteered their time, experience, and expertise to run these individual workshops:

BJ Hollars/Tuscaloosa, AL; Scott Beal/Ann Arbor, MI; Jeff Kass/Ann Arbor, MI; Anna Clark/Detroit, MI; Peter Markus/Ferndale, MI; Rachael Perry/Brighton, MI; Amelia Gray/Austin, TX; Michael Czyzniejewski/Chicago; Fred McGavran/Cincinnati, OH; Dave Housley/Washington DC; John Domini/Des Moines, IA; Philip F. Deaver/Orlando, FL; J.A. Tyler/Fort Collins, CO; Anis Shivani/Houston, TX; Stefan Kiesbye/Los Angeles, CA; Susannah Felts/Nashville, TN; Claudia Zuluaga/New York, NY; Dawn Raffel and Pamela Ryder/New York, NY; Derek Green/New Haven, CT; Jennifer Spiegel-Bell and Bhira Backhaus/Phoenix, AZ; Marcel Jolley and Hobie Anthony/Portlant, OR; Anne Leigh Parrish/Seattle, WA; Kyle Minor/Columbus, OH; Darren Defrain/Wichita, KS; Katy Vopal/Milwaukee, WI; Sherrie Flick/Pittsburgh, PA; Nancy Krygowski/Pittsburgh, PA; Jen Michalski/Baltimore, MD; Seth Harwood/Berkeley, CA; and K. Kvashay-Boyle/Los Angeles, CA.

Each workshop will allow students to work face-to-face with the instructor in specific venues with each location focusing on a specific aspect of the writing world.  For example:

 

Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award winning author, Philip F. Deaver, will run his Short Story Crank Workshop at the Urban Think Bookstore in Orlando, FL.  In it he will use a series of prompt exercises designed to get an author well into a first draft of a short story in a short period of time.

In NYC the combination of Dawn Raffel and Pamela Ryder, two writers well known for their innovative usage of language, will be co-running a workshop at the Mercantile Library Center for Fiction, analyzing short fiction, as well as discussing voice, stance, and the acoustical effects of writing, plus using exercises to get students up and running on work of their own.

 

This link will take you to the DZANC DAY page at our website where specific details regarding each session including location, time, details of the workshop, and author biographies.  The page is also where individuals wishing to sign up for one of the workshops will be able to, either via Paypal, or by sending an email and check to the address listed.  Most of the workshops will run for 4 or 5 hours and will cost $50, while another runs for 8 hours and will cost $100, rates far lower than any comparable program.

The DZANC DAY workshops serve not only to expand Dzanc's effort to bring inexpensive, face-to-face workshops to a wider audience, but also to help us generate income that will, as noted, allow Dzanc to continue that effort in our other charitable arenas - publishing literary fiction, awarding the annual Dzanc Prize, running Dzanc Writer in Residence Programs in schools across the country, and more.

For more information please visit the DZANC DAY page at the Dzanc website.  Questions can be directed to Dan Wickett at dan@dzancbooks.org.
 

ABOUT DZANC BOOKS

 

Dzanc Books was created in 2006 by Steven Gillis and Dan Wickett to advance great writing and to champion those writers who do not fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc Books not only publishes literary fiction, but works in partnership with literary journals to advance their readership at every level. Dzanc is also fully committed to developing educational programs in schools and organizes workshops and Writer-In-Residence programs in Michigan and elsewhere to meet that goal.

 

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2009 Dzanc Prize - Eugene Cross

EUGENE CROSS WINS 3^RD ANNUAL DZANC PRIZE

January 19, 2010, Ann Arbor, MI—Dzanc Books is pleased to announce that Eugene Cross of Erie, Pennsylvania is the winner of the third annual $5,000 Dzanc Prize. Cross was selected from more than 100 applicants for both the quality of his fiction writing, as well as his proposal to set up and run a progressive series of creative workshops for refugees from Nepal, Sudan and Bhutan, in Erie.  For his community service, Cross will conduct  three 4-month workshops in concurrence with an ESL class currently being taught.  We at Dzanc found Eugene’s conviction in the importance of providing the tools for self-expression to these displaced individuals to be a monumentally significant undertaking.  Eugene’s work will help people going through an extremely tough time find a means of expression and a way to share their experiences. Throughout the workshop there will be an exploration of the personal histories of the students, as well as that of language. Cross, a Lecturer in English/Creative Writing at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will begin his service within the next month, and will have with half of the prize awarded in February and the other half awarded once the service is completed.

 

Steven Gillis, Publisher of Dzanc Books, notes:  “Eugene's writing has that perfect blend of modernism and classic storytelling, is at once humorous and sexy, intelligent and provocative, and is at the same time composed and controlled.  We were also very much moved by Eugene's service program.  With all that is going on in the world, and in particular as the devastation in Haiti this past week is front page news, we found Eugene's desire to work with refugees in the telling of their stories a wonderful and timely idea.  All taken together, we at Dzanc are proud to have Eugene as our recipient of the 2009 Dzanc Prize."   

 

Cross, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, is currently working on a short story collection, Fires of Our Choosing, and plans to complete that. He says, "I'm excited and extremely honored to have been selected for the 2009 Dzanc Prize. The award will give me the opportunity to work closely with Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Sudanese refugees as they write and share their amazing stories even as they continue to unfold. I'm also deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue working on my manuscript while engaging in literary outreach with a civic- minded organization such as Dzanc."

 

ABOUT EUGENE CROSS

 

Eugene Cross teaches English and Creative Writing at Penn State University - Erie, where he received the 2008 Faculty Scholarship.  His stories have appeared in Storyglossia, Guernica, Hobart, Third Coast and other literary journals.  Currently, he is completing a collection of short fiction tentatively titled Fires of Our Choosing.  To interview Eugene, please contact Dan Wickett at dan@dzancbooks.org.

 

ABOUT DZANC BOOKS AND THE DZANC PRIZE

 

Dzanc Books was created in 2006 by Steven Gillis and Dan Wickett to advance great writing and to champion those writers who do not fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc Books not only publishes literary fiction, but works in partnership with literary journals to advance their readership at every level. Dzanc is also fully committed to developing educational programs in schools and organizes workshops and Writer-In-Residence programs in Michigan and elsewhere to meet that goal.

 

In 2007, to further its mission of fostering literary excellence, community involvement, and education, Dzanc Books created the Dzanc Prize, which awards $5,000 annually to a writer working toward completion of a novel or short story collection who is also interested in bettering their community through literary community service. For further details and more information on Dzanc Books, its mission, titles, authors, awards, and programs, please visit www.dzancbooks.org .

 

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Keyhole Press Joins Dzanc Books

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

KEYHOLE PRESS JOINS DZANC BOOKS

January 4, 2010, Ann Arbor, MI— In an effort to further our mission for bringing great writing to a broader audience, Dzanc Books is proud to announce that Keyhole Press has become an imprint of Dzanc as of January 1, 2010.  As a 501(c)3 nonprofit publisher dedicated to publishing top drawer literary fiction and sponsoring free readings and workshops across the country, Dzanc is excited by the opportunity to work with the editor of Keyhole Press, Peter Cole. Keyhole will serve as an invaluable addition to Dzanc, and allow us to publish wonderful works of fiction, in both book and literary journal form.   Keyhole has an impressive list of writers including WILLIAM WALSH, STEPHANIE JOHNSON, SHELLIE ZACHARIA and has forthcoming work scheduled from AARON BURCH and MATT BELL, and also publishes the wonderful Keyhole Magazine, a fantastic literary journal.  Furthermore, Keyhole is developing a strong presence in the Nashville literary scene.  Dzanc is excited to formalize our relationship with Keyhole and looks forward to doing many wonderful things with Keyhole in the future.

 

With Keyhole Press, and the recent addition of Absinthe: New European Writing, joining OV Books, Black Lawrence Press, and Monkeybicycle in the Dzanc fold, we will now be even more involved with the publication of both online and print journals, and have our hand in poetry, non-fiction and translated material, as well as the literary fiction we're already known for.  Our publishing of great works will range from major hardcover releases on down to 200-copy chapbooks by the best writers Dzanc has to offer.

 

ABOUT DZANC BOOKS

 

Dzanc Books was created in 2006 by Steven Gillis and Dan Wickett to advance great writing and to champion those writers who do not fit neatly into the marketing niches of for-profit presses. As a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, Dzanc Books not only publishes literary fiction, but works in partnership with literary journals to advance their readership at every level. Dzanc is also fully committed to developing educational programs in schools and organizes workshops and Writer-In-Residence programs in Michigan and elsewhere to meet that goal, as well as our sponsorship of the Dzanc Prize, given to a writer for the best combination of a literary work in progress, and a literary community service.  For further details and more information on Dzanc Books, its mission, titles, authors, awards, and programs, please visit www.dzancbooks.org .

 

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