BLOOM is pleased to announce the winners of its 2014 Chapbook Prize for Nonfiction and Fiction.
Judge Thomas Glave has chosen “Sixes and Sevens” by Bonnie J. Morris for the 2014 BLOOM Nonfiction Chapbook Prize. Morris will receive 25 copies of the chapbook and a $100 honorarium.
Judge’s citation: “Sixes and Sevens displays an often sophisticated, wry wit, an awareness of the larger world beyond a child’s/young person’s [sometimes] solipsistic universe, and handles with quiet deftness and confidence issues of ethnic, racial, cultural, religious, and gender difference (and sometimes class difference as well), without ever becoming didactic. Stylistically and structurally, too, the work ventures into intriguing territory.”
Bonnie J. Morris
Bonnie J. Morris is in her 20th year on the faculty of the women’s studies program at George Washington University, where she teaches a lesbian history and culture course in addition to women’s history special topics. Dr. Morris is the author of twelve books, three of which–Eden Built By Eves (Alyson, 1999), Girl Reel (Coffee House Press, 2000), and Revenge of the Women’s Studies Professor (Indiana, 2009) were Lambda Literary Award finalists. During winter 2014, she was featured on C-SPAN Book TV’s In-Depth Author Profile; and in summer 2014 she won a 10-day residency at the Hedgebrook retreat for women writers. She may be contacted at www.bonniejmorris.com.
Judge Lucy Jane Bledsoe has chosen The Dark Between the Stars by Hilary Zaid for the 2014 BLOOM Fiction Chapbook Prize. Zaid will receive 25 copies of the chapbook and a $100 honorarium.
Judge’s citation: “The writing is lively and imaginative, without being quirky. A bright vein of humor strengthens the exploration of mortality. Best of all, the author brings the love among the three women fully on the page without ever being sentimental. It’s a rare story that successfully tackles love or death, and yet the author of The Dark Between the Stars brilliantly delivers both.”
Hilary Zaid
Hilary Zaid is an alumna of the 2013 Tin House Writers Workshop and the 2012 James D. Houston Scholar at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous print and online publications, including BLOOM, Lilith Magazine, The Utne Reader, The Southwest Review and (forthcoming) CALYX and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A graduate of Harvard and of UC Berkeley’s graduate program in English, Hilary lives in Oakland, California, with her spouse, their two sons and two terriers.
The Poetry Chapbook Prize will be announced later this spring. For additional information, please email BLOOM at queerarts@gmail.com.