Minneapolis writers win PEN America literary awards startribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from startribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Michelle Cyca: How would you describe your literary tastes?
Jen Sookfong Lee: I mostly read novels my favourites are really immersive novels that have a lot of different layers in terms of setting and character, and all those fictional elements. I look for something that will suck me in and not let me go.
The last one was
Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz, which is a pandemic novel. Oddly, she wrote it before any of this happened. It’s not that she was predicting the future, but she did a lot of research into pandemics and viruses like COVID. It’s a fascinating read, and it follows something like five protagonists and their experiences through the pandemic.
Pequot Lakes native is finalist for 2021 Minnesota Book Award
Fredrick Soukup’s debut novel, Bliss, is among four novels being considered for the prize to be announced April 29 Written By: PineandLakes Echo Journal | 12:00 am, Feb. 17, 2021 ×
Fredrick Soukup
Pequot Lakes native Fredrick Soukup’s debut novel Bliss is a finalist for the 2021 Minnesota Book Awards’ Novel and Short Fiction category. The winner will be announced at a virtual ceremony Thursday, April 29.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be a finalist alongside such talented and influential writers,” Soukup said in a news release of the recognition, which he shares with three Minnesotan authors.
Give Em Hope Awards
The National Queer Arts Center, home of San Francisco Gay Men s Chorus, announced a call for entries for the inaugural Give Em Hope Awards. Inspired by Harvey Milk s pioneering Hope speech, the Give Em Hope Awards will provide five young artists with $1,500 each to support an artistic project that focuses on the themes of hope. Winners will also have their work featured on SFGMC TV, a free online platform showcasing performances, interviews, and singer spotlights.
The Give Em Hope Awards are designed to serve under-resourced and diverse communities and open to artists up to the age of 25. The artistic medium may be any expression of hope, including performing arts, visual arts, literature, and film. Artists interested in submitting their work for consideration should register by March 1 at info@sfgmc.org to receive more information. All entries must be submitted by April 1, 2021. Award recipients will be announced on April 15, 2021.
From these finalists for the PEN America Literary Awards, winners will be announced on April 8 and receive a total of more than US$380,000.
Dining tents in New York City’s Bryant Park, February 4. Image – iStockphoto: Massimo Giachetti
From 1,850 Submissions, 55 Finalists
A total of 55 titles in 11 categories have been named today (February 10) as finalists in the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards. They now are in contention for an aggregate purse of more than US$380,000. PEN America, of course, is the US affiliate chapter of PEN International.
An important and notably serious program among world publishing’s myriad awards programs each year, this series is also at times confusing because its sponsor-named categories vary widely in their nature and prize money. Some awards are funded for biennial presentation, rather than yearly.