William Saroyan International Prize for Writing

William Saroyan International Prize for Writing nominates WMU graduate Melinda Moustakis ! Shortlist Announced for 2012 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing Stanford University Libraries announced today the shortlist for the fifth William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (Saroyan Prize). Black Elephants by Karol Nielsen The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll Bear Down, Bear North by Melinda Moustakis The Dance Boots by Linda LeGarde Grover Confessions of a Left-Handed Man by Peter Selgin Family of Shadows by Garin K. Hovannisian Dog-Heart by Diana McCaulay East of the West by Miroslav Penkov The Good Daughter by Jasmin Darznik Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan The Free World by David Bezmozgis The Gendarme by Mark T. Mustian Rattlesnake Daddy by Brent Spencer Solacers by Arion Golmakani Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner Lunch Bucket Paradise by Fred Setterberg The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey Tales from a Mountain City by Quynh Dao The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse Orientation by Daniel Orozco The Tenth Parallel by Eliza Griswold Under Surge, Under Siege by Ellis Anderson Shards by Ismet Prcic Skippy Dies by Paul Murray Standing at the Crossroads by Charles Davis The Submission by Amy Waldman This Is Not Your City by Caitlin Horrocks The awards are intended to encourage new or emerging writers and honor the Saroyan literary legacy of originality, vitality and stylistic innovation. The Saroyan Prize recognizes newly published works of both fiction and non-fiction. A prize of $5,000 will be awarded in each category. Winners will be announced this summer. "Stanford is thrilled once again to honor the literary legacy of William Saroyan by awarding The William Saroyan International Prize for Writing," said Michael A. Keller, Stanford University Librarian. "However, the prize not only allows us to recognize the talents of an author whose archive we are pleased to hold but as well to engage with new authors, whose works are often found to be of wide interest and significance. In addition, Stanford gets another opportunity to engage with a remarkable team of alumni who serve both on our judging panel and as volunteer reviewers." The Saroyan Prize was last awarded in 2010, when the fiction prize went to Rivka Galchen for her novel Atmospheric Disturbances (Picador, 2009) and the non-fiction prize went to Linda Himelstein for The King of Vodka (HarperBusiness, 2009). Other notable winners include Jonathan Safran Foer in 2003 for his novel Everything is Illuminated (Houghton Mifflin, 2002). George Hagen in 2005 for his novel The Laments (Random House, 2004), and Kiyo Sato in 2008 for Dandelion Through the Crack (Willow Valley Press, 2007). William Saroyan, an American writer and playwright, is a Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winner best known for his short stories about humorous experiences of immigrant families and children in California. Much of Saroyan's other work is clearly autobiographical, although similar in style and technique to fiction. Saroyan was the fourth child of Armenian immigrants. He battled his way through poverty and rose to literary prominence in the early 1930s when national magazines began publishing his short stories, such as The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze, My Name Is Aram, Inhale & Exhale, Three Times Three, and Peace, It's Wonderful. Saroyan soon moved on to writing plays for Broadway and screenplays for Hollywood, including: My Heart's in the Highlands, The Time of Your Life, The Beautiful People, and The Human Comedy. William Saroyan International Prize for Writing homepage: http://library.stanford.edu/saroyan/

DailyKos Notes Convening of Medieval Congress

A contributor to the political web site DailyKos.com has written a long piece about one of his experiences at the Medieval Congress this year.  Can it be long before our national political discourse is filled with references to the Venerable Bede, Eusebian history, visions of Margery Kempe, and boy bishop sermons? 

Link:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/12/1083936/-Noble-Honorable-and-Utterly-Unbelievable-The-Unsung-Influence-of-Jean-Louis-de-Pouffe

GWS Event—5/17 in Center for Humanities

Want a deeper understanding of transgender discrimination? Jack Harrison and Jaime Grant will be sharing the results of their national study at WMU on Thurs, May 17, 10-11:30 at the Humanities Center, 2500 Knauss Hall.

WMU Creative Writing Graduate 2012 earns Merit Award

Samantha Schaefer, a WMU creative writing major who graduated with honors from the Lee Honor College April 28, is the recipient of a Follett Graduate Merit Award from Columbia College Chicago. The award, offered to just four incoming students annually, recognizes outstanding accomplishments and the potential for continued excellence in the college's Creative Writing--Poetry MFA program. Samantha will receive $12,100 toward tuition and fees each academic year. While a student at WMU, Samantha has been involved in a number of activities, including Gold Company II and launching a reading series for undergraduate creative writers. She also served for three years as the peer advisor and assistant of the English Department's Prague Summer Program, which she attended as a student in 2009. Her writing has been published on campus in the Laureate, and also in the Albion Review and Asylum Lake Press. Sam is the co-editor of the Black Tongue Review (a charitable literary arts magazine based out of Chicago).