Emerging Writer Award Winners Announced

 

The Key West Literary Seminar is pleased to announce the selection of its 2019 Emerging Writer Award winners. Three awards are presented each year to recognize and support writers who possess exceptional talent and demonstrate potential for lasting literary careers. This year’s winners are Joe Dornich of Knoxville, Tennessee; Ross Feeler of Buda, Texas; and Michelle Peñaloza of Covelo, California.

 

Joe Dornich was awarded the Cecelia Joyce Johnson Award for his short story “Camp Vampire Kids.” He is a doctoral candidate in Texas Tech’s creative writing program, where he also serves as managing editor for Iron Horse Literary Review. Joe’s stories have won awards from South Central Modern Language Association, Fresher, the Master’s Review, and Carve Magazine.

 

Ross Feeler was named the Marianne Russo Award winner for his novel-in-progress, Tarsh.  His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Potomac Review, Hypertext Magazine, New South, Story|Houston, the Common, Arcadia, and elsewhere. He teaches composition and literature at Texas State University.

 

Michelle Peñaloza is the winner of the Scotti Merrill Award for Poetry, which is selected by Billy Collins, a former Poet Laureate of the United States. Peñaloza is the author of two chapbooks, landscape/heartbreak and Last Night I Dreamt of Volcanoes. Her work can be found in New England Review, Vinyl, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, and the Collagist, with poems forthcoming in the Normal School and Third Coast.

 

The winners receive full tuition to attend the 37th annual Key West Literary Seminar, “Under the Influence: Archetype & Adaptation from Homer to the Multiplex” January 10-13, 2019; full tuition to attend the Writers’ Workshop Program January 14-18, 2019; round-trip airfare; full lodging support; a $500 honorarium; and the opportunity to appear on stage during the Seminar.

 

Since 2008, the Key West Literary Seminar has provided 470 individuals with nearly $460,000 in fee waivers and lodging and travel assistance. The Scotti Merrill Memorial Award is fully funded by an endowment established by Holly Merrill and the Dogwood Foundation. The Cecelia Joyce Johnson Award and Marianne Russo Award are supported by endowments from Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson and Peyton Evans.

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