Dzanc Books

Dzanc Title Short Listed for Frank O'Connor Short Fiction Award!

Dzanc Books is extremely pleased to announce that Laura van den Berg's short story collection, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us (Dzanc Books, 2009), has been selected as a finalist for the Frank O'Connor Short Fiction Award.   Announced earlier today, Laura's book is one of six collections that the committee has winnowed down from the original semi-finalist long list of 58 titles. The Frank O'Connor Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the world as it is open internationally and receives submissions from publishers all over the world, is awarded to the best, original collection of stories published in English in the 12 preceding months.  This year's finalists range from debut authors on up to TC Boyle, who has published 20 works of fiction, including 9 short story collections.     Dzanc Books is thrilled to have Laura's work among the finalists.  Since Laura first won the Dzanc Prize in 2008, proving not only her skills as a writer but dedication to social service, her collection has gone on to receive a starred Booklist review, as well as be selected also as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great Writers and a Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist.  Stories from  the collection have also been reprinted in Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008, Best New American Voices 2010, and The Pushcart Prize XXIV: Best of the Small Presses.   Laura is a well deserving finalist and we here at Dzanc Books could not be prouder to have published What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us.       For more information about Laura's collection:   http://www.dzancbooks.org/store/vandenberg-water.html   For more information about Laura van den Berg:   www.lauravandenberg.com   For more information about Dzanc Books:   www.dzancbooks.org   For more information about the Frank O'Connor Short Fiction Award:   http://www.munsterlit.ie/FOC%20Award%20page.html

The L Magazine - Best of New York City

Dzanc Books recognized by The L Magazine!

The L Magazine has just announced their Best of NY City Issue and when it comes to the area of letters, Dzanc Books and our authors have done well.  The L Magazine noted the four best independent works of fiction in 2008 (so far) and praised Dzanc's debut title, Roy Kesey's All Over by saying: 

"Short stories: we love ’em, and Dzanc Books, a small press out of Michigan that shot out of the gate with Kesey’s All Over, is going to be publishing a lot of them. This is a book that combines the wiliness of George Saunders and the wisdom of Ron Carlson. Put simply: this is a great collection."

They also pointed out the best short stories published by NYC publications and tops on that list was "What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us" (One Story #102), which is the title story from the forthcoming (November 2009) collection Dzanc Books will be publishing by Laura van den Berg.

We're both proud and thrilled to see Roy and Laura's names alongside authors like Lydia Millet, Robert Coover, and Louise Erdich!   

Dzanc to Publish Laura van den Berg!

January 14, 2008 - Ann Arbor, MI—Dzanc Books is proud to announce that it will publish a collection of stories by Laura van den Berg called What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us in late 2009.  Laura’s work, both flash and short fiction, has appeared widely in magazines.  This collection concentrates on her longer stories. 

“I had enjoyed Laura’s writing in the past,” said Dan Wickett, “but when Steve [Gillis], Keith [Taylor] and I all read the fiction she submitted when she won the inaugural Dzanc Prize, we all felt we needed to find out where she was in completing a full manuscript of stories.”  Van den Berg was awarded the Prize for the quality of that fiction sample and her proposal to teach writing to prisoners in the Boston area. It turned out to be great timing as van den Berg’s agent, Katherine Fausset, had just begun submitting the manuscript to publishers. The Dzanc team, equally as impressed with the rest of the collection as with the initial story, made an offer immediately. We are thrilled that this incredible young writer is as excited to have her work become a part of Dzanc’s catalogue as we are to add it.

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.