Join us (virtually) for the announcement of the next winner of the Crook’s Corner Book Prize! The Chapel Hill Public Library and Flyleaf Books have generously offered to co-host this event with us on Tuesday, January 11th, 2022 and our judge Ron Rash will be joining us to chat with the winner.
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9th Annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize Shortlist Announced
September 15, 2021
CHAPEL HILL, NC – The Crook’s Corner Book Prize, awarded annually for the best debut novel set in the American South, has announced its Shortlist today. The winner will be chosen from the Shortlist by Ron Rash, author of the PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestselling novel Serena, in addition to four other critically acclaimed novels, four collections of poems, and six collections of stories. The $5,000 prize, inspired by the prestigious book awards given by famous Parisian literary cafés, is awarded by the Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation. Although eligible books must be set predominantly in the South, the prize is open to writers from anywhere.
As COVID-19 persists in wreaking havoc across the globe, writers, booksellers, and publishers have been especially impacted. “It seemed we were having a reprieve from the pandemic, but with the Delta variant sweeping through our communities, many events, like bookstore readings, continue to be cancelled,” says Foundation president Anna Hayes. “This has an especially negative effect on debut novelists, who need to be out promoting their new work. We’re proud of all the authors on our Shortlist and hope to help them gain the attention they deserve.”
THE SHORTLIST
The Prophets
by Robert Jones, Jr.
(G. P. Putnam’s Sons)
Portraying the enormous, heroic power of love, this novel is about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Jones is from New York City and received his BFA in creative writing, and MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Essence, and The Paris Review.
The Girls in The Stilt House
by Kelly Mustian
(Sourcebooks Landmark)
Set in 1920s Mississippi, this debut Southern novel weaves a beautiful and harrowing story of two teenage girls cast in an unlikely partnership through murder. Mustian grew up in Natchez, Mississippi and currently lives near the foothills of North Carolina. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and commercial magazines, and her short fiction has won a Blumenthal Writers and Readers Series Award. She is a past recipient of a Regional Artist Grant from the North Carolina Arts and Science Council.
Things We Lost To The Water
by Eric Nguyen
(Alfred A. Knopf)
As they search for identity–as individuals and as a family–an immigrant Vietnamese family settles in New Orleans and struggles to remain connected to one another as their lives are inexorably reshaped. Nguyen earned an MFA in creative writing from McNeese State University in Louisiana and now lives in Washington, DC. He has been awarded fellowships from Lambda Literary, Voices of Our Nation Arts (VONA), and the Tin House Writers Workshop. He is also the Editor in Chief of diaCRITICS.
The winner will be announced in January 2022. About the book prize.
The Crook’s Corner Book Prize honors the iconic Crook’s Corner Restaurant, which for 40 years was a culinary, literary, and artistic beacon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Sadly, Crook’s Corner closed in 2021. However, the Crook’s Corner Book Prize will continue its annual award, an ongoing homage.
CONTACTS:
Cindy Hamel, cindyhsellars@gmail.com, 917-544-1793
April Starling, april@getlinkcommunications.com, 917-544-0608
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Crook’s Corner Book Prize 9th Annual Longlist Announced
July 8, 2021
Chapel Hill, North Carolina—The Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation today announced its annual Longlist for best debut novel set in the American South. Now in its ninth year, the $5,000 literary prize winner will be announced in January 2022. The Longlist includes:
Conjure Women
by Afia Atakora
(Random House)
Lifelike Creatures
by Rebecca Baum
(Regal House Publishing)
Every Bone A Prayer
by Ashley Blooms
(Sourcebooks Landmark)
Of Women and Salt
by Gabriela Garcia
(Flatiron Books)
F*CKFACE And Other Stories
by Leah Hampton
(Henry Holt & Co.)
The Prophets
by Robert Jones, Jr.
(G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
The Girls in the Stilt House
by Kelly Mustian
(Sourcebooks Landmark)
Things We Lost to the Water
by Eric Nguyen
(Alfred A. Knopf)
Lord the One You Love is Sick
by Kasey Thornton
(IG Publishing)
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Winner Announced for the 8th Annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize
January 11, 2021
SION DAYSON WINS CROOK’S CORNER BOOK PRIZE FOR DEBUT NOVEL AS A RIVER
Chapel Hill, NC, January 11, 2021—As a River by Sion Dayson is the winner of the eighth annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize, which awards $5000 for the best debut novel set in the American South.
This year’s judge, award-winning novelist Monique Truong, chose the winner from the Shortlist announced in September 2020. The shortlist titles were As a River by Sion Dayson (Jaded Ibis Press), Confessions of an Innocent Man by David R. Dow (Dutton) and Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore (Harper Collins).
Set in Georgia, written in spare and lyrical prose, As a River moves back and forth across decades, evoking the mysterious play of memory as it touches upon shame and redemption, despair, and connection. At its heart it’s a novel about our struggles to understand each other, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.
Sion Dayson was born in New York and raised in North Carolina. After a decade spent in Paris where she acquired French nationality, she now makes her home in Valencia, Spain. Her work has appeared in numerous venues including The Writer, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, Hunger Mountain, Utne Reader, The Wall Street Journal, and several anthologies. Jaded Ibis Press is a feminist press committed to publishing socially engaged literature with an emphasis on the voices of people of color, people with disabilities, and other historically silenced and culturally marginalized voices.
The Crook’s Corner Book Prize, established as a collaboration between the iconic Southern restaurant, Crook’s Corner, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation, was inspired by the prestigious book awards long given by famous “literary cafés” in Paris.
“This pandemic year has particularly impacted debut novelists, who have a tough time gaining recognition even in the best of times,” says Foundation president Anna Hayes. “With in-person bookstore readings and book launch events canceled, we are especially glad for this opportunity to shine a spotlight on exciting new writers.”
Submissions are now open for next year’s Prize. For more information on the Prize and submission guidelines, please visit www.crookscornerbookprize.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Cindy Hamel, cindyhsellars@gmail.com, 917-544-1793 and April Starling, april@getlinkcommunications.com, 917-544-0608
8th Annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize Shortlist Announced
September 17, 2020
CHAPEL HILL, NC – The Crook’s Corner Book Prize, awarded annually for the best debut novel set in the American South, has announced its Shortlist today. The winner will be chosen this year by award-winning novelist, Monique Truong. The $5000 prize, inspired by the prestigious book awards given by famous Parisian literary cafés, is co-sponsored by the iconic Southern restaurant, Crook’s Corner, in Chapel Hill, NC. Although eligible books must be set predominantly in the South, the prize is open to writers from anywhere.
In this year of the COVID-19 crisis, writers, booksellers, and publishers have all suffered from the disruptions of quarantines and social distancing. “With bookstore readings canceled and all book launch activities impacted, no one has suffered more than debut novelists, who will always have a tough time gaining recognition, even in the best of circumstances,” says Foundation president Anna Hayes. “We are therefore especially glad this year to shine the spotlight on these exciting new authors.”
THE SHORTLIST
As a River
by Sion Dayson
(Jaded Ibis Press)
Written in spare and lyrical prose and set in Georgia, As a River moves back and forth across decades, evoking the mysterious play of memory as it touches upon shame and redemption, despair, and connection. At its heart it’s a novel about our struggles to understand each other, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. Sion Dayson grew up in North Carolina and earned an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared in Electric literature, Utne Reader, and more.
Confessions of an Innocent Man
by David R. Dow
(Dutton)
A man wrongfully convicted of murder will stop at nothing to deliver justice to those who stole everything from him. This suspenseful novel, set in Texas, is a fierce howl of rage that questions the true meaning of justice. David R. Dow is the Cullen Professor at the University of Houston Law Center and the Rorschach Visiting Professor of History at Rice University. Working with students in his death penalty clinic, Dow has represented more than one hundred death-row inmates during their state and federal appeals. He is also the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network.
Valentine
by Elizabeth Wetmore
(Harper Collins)
A brutal rape in the Texas oil country of the mid-1970s reverberates through the lives of five women, whose different perspectives reveal the many faces of pain, resilience, and comfort. Deeply rooted in the implacable Texas landscape, the gripping narrative finds surprising pockets of empathy engendered by anger, fear, and evil. Author Elizabeth Wetmore is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in Epoch, Kenyon Review, Colorado Review, Baltimore Review, Crab Orchard Review,Iowa Review, and other literary journals.
The winner will be announced on January 11, 2021. About the book prize.
Media contacts: Cindy Hamel at Cindy Hamel PR 917-544-1793 or cindyhsellars@gmail.com.
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About the 7th Annual Book Prize Winner
Devi S. Laskar
The Atlas of Reds and Blues grapples with the complexities of second-generation American life. Inspired by the author’s own terrifying experience of a mistaken police raid on her home, Devi S. Laskar’s debut novel explores, in spare and powerful prose, the ways in which racism permeates and pollutes the American dream. As the protagonist, known only as Mother, lies bleeding from a police gunshot wound in her Atlanta driveway, she revisits, in a time-bending mind-flash, her life as the successful child of immigrants from India, wife of a successful white businessman, and mother of three daughters.
Laskar is a native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and holds an MFA from Columbia University. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and is an alumna of The OpEd Project and VONA. The Atlas of Reds and Blues is her first novel. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Author website www.devislaskar.com