Dzanc Books

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 [email protected].

 

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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Dzanc Prize 2008

Dzanc Books is pleased to announce the opening for submissions to the 2008 Dzanc Prize.

The Dzanc Prize provides monetary aid in the sum of $5,000, to a writer of literary fiction.  All writers applying for the Dzanc Prize must have a work-in-progress they can submit for review, and present the judges with a Community Service Program they can facilitate.  Such programs may include anything deemed "educational"  in relation to writing.  Examples would include: working with HIV patients to help them write their stories; doing a series of workshops at a drop-in youth homeless center;  running writing programs in inner-city schools; or working with older citizens looking to write their memoirs.  All community programs under the Dzanc Prize must run for a full year.

Last year, Dzanc Books awarded the inaugural Dzanc Prize to Laura van den Berg. Laura is currently in the middle of a series of workshops she’s running in the New England prison system.  At the end of Laura's year, an anthology of work by the prisoners she is teaching will be compiled and published by Dzanc.  Laura's story collection, What the World Will Look Like When All of the Water is Gone, will also be published by Dzanc Books in fall 2009.

Eligibility:  The author must be working on literary fiction, and the community service must occur within the United States of America.  All applicants must demonstrate that they are able to do the community service they are suggesting, and are not otherwise offering would-be ideas for consideration. Judging shall give equal weight to the caliber of writing and the Community Service.  .

Timing: The Inaugural Dzanc Prize will be issued for the 2009 calendar year. We will accept submissions from authors from now through November 1, 2008. The announcement of the winning author will be made during the month of December 2008. The announcement will be made via email to the author, on the Dzanc website, as well as sent to trade (P&W, Publisher’s Weekly, Galleycat, etc.).

Submissions: Authors please send your current cv, a description of your Work in Progress, along with a ten page excerpt, and your planned Literary Community Service. These should be sent as MS Word Attachments in an email to [email protected].

Dzanc Books will be selecting the author who will receive this $5,000 Prize based on a combination of the Work in Progress, and the intended Literary Community Service. It would probably benefit authors who are submitting to become familiar with Dzanc Books and the types of authors we publish, as well as the Educational Programs Dzanc Books sets up and runs.

The winner of the Dzanc Prize will receive a check for $2500 in the month of January 2009. The remaining $2500 will be paid once the Literary Community Service has been completed.

Dzanc Books will make no claims towards the winner and their Work in Progress. If at the time the author has completed the work, they wish to submit it to Dzanc Books, we will be delighted to have a look. Their manuscript will go through the same reading process every other submission goes through.

The submissions for the Dzanc Prize will be reviewed by, and the prize will be awarded by a panel of Steve Gillis, Dan Wickett, Steven Seighman, and Keith Taylor. All writers, including friends and associates of the panel, are eligible for the prize. The integrity and objectivity of Dzanc Books will not be compromised and, given our vast connections to so many great writers, exclusion of any kind would be impossible.

Any questions can be submitted to [email protected].

The above information can also be found at:  http://www.dzancbooks.org/dzancprize.html

Laura van den Berg Received First Annual Dzanc Prize

LAURA VAN DEN BERG WINS DZANC PRIZE

December 3, 2007, Ann Arbor, MI—Dzanc Books is pleased to announce that Laura van den Berg of Boston, Massachusetts is the winner of the first annual $5,000 Dzanc Prize. Selected from more than 160 applicants for her proposal to teach creative writing in area prisons and on the quality of her fiction writing, the Emerson College MFA student will begin her service in 2008 with half of the prize awarded in January and the other half awarded once the service is completed.

Steven Gillis, Publisher of Dzanc Books, says van den Berg’s application won over the reading panel because “[her] commitment to working with prisoners and helping Dzanc put together a written anthology from these workshops, coupled with her remarkable writing, moved her consistently and undeniably to the front of the list.” Van den Berg is currently working on a short story collection, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, and plans to begin a novel. She says, “When I found out I had been selected for the prize, I was astonished and deeply honored. . . Steve  Gillis, Dan Wickett, and Keith Taylor are wonderful champions of literary fiction and gifted editors,  and it's a huge gift to have the opportunity to work with them.”

ABOUT LAURA VAN DEN BERG

A native of central Florida, Laura van den Berg is the editor-in-chief of Emerson College’s literary and arts journal, Redivider, and a Ploughshares staff member. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Indiana Review, The Literary Review, StoryQuarterly, American Short Fiction, and One Story, among others, and has received awards from Glimmer Train and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She previously taught writing at Emerson College, and currently teaches fiction at Grub Street, an independent center for creative writing in Boston.

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 .