WELCOME TO OUR 2012 SUMMER AWARDS ISSUE, highlighting our 2012 Contest Award Winners as well as featuring a poem by STEPHEN DUNN, to honor our first annual Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize, as well as work by other fabulous well-known poets!
In fiction, the final judge JENNIFER HAIGH, selected a haunting story of a rural con man by AMY L. CLARK as winner of our $1,000 fiction prize. Runner-up is CAMERON MACKENZIE’S deeply ironic story of the death of a drug dealer. Finalists are SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA’S surreal tale of a ghostly lover, MORGAN SMITH’s story of redemption by the Mexican border, and JANET HILLIARD-OSBORN’s lyrical historical fiction.
Our first annual nonfiction prize of $500, donated by Michael Steinberg, and judged by JERALD WALKER, goes to DAWN HAINES, author of a deep, moving essay about her mother and death. Finalist GAYNELL GAVIN offers moving insights into racial prejudice, and finalist DEBORAH TAFFA delves lyrically into her Native American heritage.
The poems in this issue exhibit an exciting range of subject matter, tone, and form. Our winner of the STEPHEN DUNN Prize in Poetry for $500 is MIKE NELSON’S “Via Dolorosa,” which is delicate and complex in both emotion and imagery; whereas energetic and surprising language drives “I Blame the Ronettes” by runner-up EMILY VAN DUYNE. Among the finalists, KRISTEN HAVEN’S poems look sharply at the gritty side of city living, READ TRAMMEL strikes a contemplative note, while DON COLBURN offers an accomplished villanelle. Solstice poetry editors Kathleen Aguero and Danielle Georges were the judges.
In addition to our contest winner and finalists, we are privileged to publish a poem bySTEPHEN DUNN, alongside tongue-in-cheek work by GARY DUEHR and poems by AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER that explore issues of identity raised by living in another culture, and ending with a poem by MARILENE PHIPPS-KETTLEWELL that explores boundaries of perception.
So plunge into this special Summer Issue and explore the depth and richness of our writers! Please leave comments on their pieces.
NOTE: We are also introducing our new BLOG by EUGENIO VOLPE, our new assistant fiction editor. Check it out! Also, welcome to HELEN ELAINE LEE, as a new consulting fiction editor. As a 2012 Best of the Net Award Winner in nonfiction, we are growing and changing. So join our diverse community and join our Facebook friends.
Warmly, Lee Hope
