The St. Francis College Literary Prize is a biannual literary award

Literary award

A literary award is an award presented to an author who has written a particularly lauded piece or body of work. There are awards for forms of writing ranging from poetry to novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing . There are also awards...

 inaugurated in 2009. The prize of is presented to a mid-career author in honor of a third to fifth book of fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

. The winner is selected by a jury and invited to St. Francis College in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 for a speech. The SFC Literary Prize is meant to offer encouragement and significant financial support to a mid-career writer. The winner of the prize is announced from a whittled down shortlist during the Brooklyn Book Festival

Brooklyn Book Festival

The Brooklyn Book Festival is an annual book fair held in Brooklyn, New York. It was begun in 2006 by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who wanted to showcase the "Brooklyn voice" in literature, as numerous authors reside in the borough...

 every other year in September.

Winners and shortlist

Blue Ribbon = winner

2011

For books published between July 2009 and May 2011.

• Kevin Brockmeier
  Kevin Brockmeier
  Kevin John Brockmeier is an American writer of fantasy and literary fiction. His short stories have been printed in numerous publications and he has published two collections of stories, two children's novels, and two fantasy novels...
  
  , The Illumination
• Joshua Cohen
  Joshua Cohen (writer)
  Joshua Aaron Cohen is an American novelist and writer of stories.-Novels:* Witz * A Heaven of Others , second edition 2010,...
  
  , Witz Jonathan Dee
  Jonathan Dee
  Jonathan Dee is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. His fifth novel, “The Privileges”, was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-Life:...
  
  , The Privileges
• Yiyun Li
  Yiyun Li
  Yiyun Li is a Chinese American writer. Her debut short story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers won the 2005 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and her second collection Gold Boy, Emerald Girl was shortlisted for the same award...
  
  , Gold Boy Emerald Girl
• Marlene van Niekerk
  Marlene van Niekerk
  Marlene van Niekerk is a South African author who is best known for her novel Triomf. Her graphic and controversial descriptions of a poor Afrikaner family in Johannesburg brought her to the forefront of a post-apartheid society, still struggling to come to terms with all the changes in South...
  
  , Agaat
• Brad Watson
  Brad Watson (writer)
  -Life:He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1978, and the University of Alabama in 1985. He is a professor of creative writing and literature in the Department of English at the University of Wyoming.His work appeared in The New Yorker.-Awards:...
  
  , Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives

Jury: Francine Prose

Francine Prose

Francine Prose is an American writer. Since March 2007 she has been the president of PEN American Center. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1968 and received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1991....

, Rick Moody

Rick Moody

Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of...

, Darcey Steinke

Darcey Steinke

Darcey Steinke is an American novelist and journalist. The daughter of a Lutheran minister, she was born on April 25, 1962. She is the author of four novels, Up Through the Water, Suicide Blonde, Jesus Saves, and Milk, and the memoir Easter Everywhere. She also co-edited the collection of essays...

2009
Aleksandar Hemon

Aleksandar Hemon

Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian-American fiction writer. He is the winner of a MacArthur Foundation grant. He has written four acclaimed books: Love and Obstacles: Stories , The Lazarus Project: A Novel , which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle...

, Love and Obstacles

• Chris Abani
  Chris Abani
  Christopher Abani is a Nigerian author. Abani's first novel, Masters of the Board, was about a Neo-Nazi takeover of Nigeria...
  
  , Song For Night
• Jim Krusoe
  Jim Krusoe
  Jim Krusoe is an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. His stories and poems have appeared in Antioch Review, Denver Quarterly, BOMB, Iowa Review, Field, North American Review, American Poetry Review, and Santa Monica Review, which he founded in 1988...
  
  , Girl Factory
• Arthur Phillips
  Arthur Phillips
  Arthur Phillips is a Jewish American novelist active in the 21st century. His novels include Prague , The Egyptologist , Angelica , The Song Is You , and The Tragedy of Arthur -Life:Phillips was born in Minneapolis, received a BA in history from Harvard...
  
  , The Song Is You

Jury: Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Lethem

Jonathan Allen Lethem is an American novelist, essayist and short story writer. His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. It was followed by three more science fiction novels...

, Heidi Julavits

Heidi Julavits

Heidi Suzanne Julavits is an American author and co-editor of The Believer magazine. She has been published in The Best Creative Nonfiction Vol. 2, Esquire, Story, Zoetrope All-Story, and McSweeney’s Quarterly...

, Ben Marcus

Ben Marcus

Ben Marcus is the author of three books of fiction, Notable American Women, The Father Costume, and The Age of Wire and String. His new novel, The Flame Alphabet, will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in January of 2012...

, Ayelet Waldman

Ayelet Waldman

Ayelet Waldman is a novelist and essayist who was formerly a lawyer. She is noted for her self-revelatory essays, and for her writing about the changing expectations of motherhood...

, Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....

.

External links

• St. Francis College Literary Prize official website.