EMILY BARTON, WINNER OF THE 2002 BARD FICTION PRIZE, WILL READ FROM HER RECENT WORK ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-Emily Barton, who was awarded the 2002 Bard Fiction Prize, will read from her recent work on Monday, February 10. The prize, established last year by Bard College to encourage and support promising young fiction writers, consists of a $30,000 cash award and appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard for one semester. Barton is writer-in-residence at the College this semester. The program, free and open to the public, will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Weis Cinema of the Bertelsmann Campus Center.
"Adventurous, original, intelligent, and thematically provocative, Emily Barton's first novel, The Testament of Yves Gundron, combines all the characteristics one looks for in a promising young writer," stated the judges of the Bard Fiction Prize when announcing their selection. "With prodigious self-confidence, she has invented in this work a thoroughly convincing mythic parallel universe. Far from writing the usual autobiographical first novel, Barton has set for herself a much more difficult challenge-to try, through the medium of fiction, to pose for her readers the largest possible questions about what it means to be alive in a world that craves progress at any cost."
Emily Barton was raised in New Jersey and earned a B.A. degree in English literature from Harvard and an M.F.A. in creative writing/fiction from the University of Iowa. Her short fiction has appeared in Story and American Short Fiction, and her book reviews appear regularly in The New York Times Book Review and Bookforum. The Testament of Yves Gundron (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2000) was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was nominated for the Guardian Fiction Prize. She resides in Brooklyn, where the novel on which she is presently working is set.
The creation of the Bard Fiction Prize, presented each October to a promising young fiction writer, can be viewed as a continuation of Bard's long-standing position as a center for creative, groundbreaking literary work by faculty and students alike. From Saul Bellow, William Gaddis, Mary McCarthy, and Ralph Ellison, to John Ashbery, Philip Roth, William Weaver, and Chinua Achebe, Bard literature faculty, past and present, represent some of the most important American writers of our time. The prize is intended to encourage and support young writers of fiction in pursuing their creative goals and to provide an opportunity to work in a fertile intellectual environment. Last year's inaugural Bard Fiction Prize was awarded to Nathan Englander, author of the collected stories For the Relief of Unbearable Urges (Knopf).
For further information about the reading or the Bard Fiction Prize, call at 845-758-7087 or e-mail [email protected].
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The Bard Fiction Prize is awarded annually to a promising, emerging writer who is an American citizen aged 39 years or younger at the time of application. In addition to the monetary award, the winner receives an appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College for one semester without the expectation that he or she teach traditional courses. The recipient will give at least one public lecture and will meet informally with students. To apply, candidates should write a cover letter explaining the project they plan to work on while at Bard and submit a C.V., along with three copies of the published book they feel best represents their work. No manuscripts will be accepted. Applications for the 2003 prize must be received by July 15, 2003. For further information about the Bard Fiction Prize, call 845-758-7087, send an e-mail to [email protected], or visit www.bard.edu/bfp. Applicants may also request information by writing to the Bard Fiction Prize, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000.
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(1.28.03)