Winner Announced for the 11th Annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize
January 8, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kera Yonker, kerayonker@gmail.com
Bobby Finger Wins $5000 Crook’s Corner Book Prize for The Old Place
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, January 8, 2024—The Old Place by Bobby Finger (Penguin Random House) is the winner of the eleventh annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize for the best debut novel set in the American South.
Selected by this year’s judge Wiley Cash, The Old Place is a bighearted and moving debut about a wry retired schoolteacher whose decade-old secret threatens to come to light and send shockwaves through her small Texas town. Cash says:
Bobby Finger’s novel might be titled The Old Place, but its themes of family, forgiveness, and acceptance are as timely as ever. Like truly timeless literature, Finger’s novel is populated with small-town characters we all know. In this novel, Billington, Texas is its own distinct place, but thanks to Finger’s talented rendering, it quickly becomes a place for all of us to understand ourselves and one another better.
The winner was chosen from the Shortlist announced in September 2023. The three shortlisted titles also included Hestia Strikes a Match by Christine Grillo, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Macmillan Publishers) and Indigo Field by Marjorie Hudson (Regal House Publishing).
Bobby Finger graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 before moving to New York City, where he worked as a copywriter at an advertising agency before becoming a full-time pop culture writer and podcaster. His bylines have appeared in New York magazine, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair. The Old Place was selected by Vanity Fair as one of the best books of 2022. His next novel, Four Squares, is forthcoming from Penguin Random House in June 2024.
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. For more information on the Prize and submission guidelines, please visit www.crookscornerbookprize.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
About the 11th Annual Book Prize Winner
Photo Credit: Elena Mudd | elenamudd.com
Bobby Finger
Bobby Finger’s debut novel The Old Place was published 2022 by Penguin Random House. It was selected by Vanity Fair as one of the best books of the year in 2022. He has a new novel coming out from Penguin Random House in June 2024, called Four Squares. His bylines have appeared in outlets including New York, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair.
Bobby Finger graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 before moving to New York City, where he worked as a copywriter at an advertising agency before transitioning into becoming a full-time pop culture writer and podcaster. In 2016, he co-founded the podcast Who? Weekly, based on a newsletter and focused on B-list celebrities. Hugely popular, it may be best summed up by its tagline: “Everything you need to know about the celebrities you don’t.” The podcast quickly amassed a large group of fans known affectionately as ‘Wholigans’.
Crook’s Corner Book Prize 11th Annual Shortlist Announced
September 18, 2023
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023—Today, the Crook’s Corner Book Prize Foundation announces the three finalists for best debut novel set in the American South. “Writing a novel is hard enough. Getting attention for your first novel is even harder. Our goal is to shine a light on promising new novelists writing about the American South to alert readers to the exciting talent out there,” says Anna Hayes, Foundation President. The winner of the $5000 prize will be announced in January 2024.
The Shortlist
The Old Place
by Bobby Finger
(G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Penguin Random House)
Mary Alice and Ellie were forever linked the day they both lost their sons, one right after the other. Years later, the two are working their way back to a comfortable friendship. When a relative arrives who could expose a decade-old secret of Mary Alice’s, the whole of their friendship is put at risk.
Hestia Strikes a Match
by Christine Grillo
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Macmillan Publishers)
Christine Grillo’s “Hestia Strikes a Match” is an irreverent, incisive, laugh-out-loud interrogation of modern love of all kinds, in all its messy beauty. Equal parts wise and hilarious, it fills the heart, fortifies the spirit, and will surely help to fend off despair.
Indigo Field
by Marjorie Hudson
(Regal House Publishing)
In prose that’s been called “dazzling” and “mesmerizing,” in the animated voices of trees and birds and people, in deeply layered Southern-voiced storytelling, Marjorie Hudson lays out the boundaries of a field that contains the soul of the South, and leads us to a day of reckoning.
Although eligible books must be predominantly set in the South, authors may live anywhere, and all genres of fiction, except for Young Adult, are eligible.
Judging for this year’s Prize will be Wiley Cash. Cash is an award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of four novels and the founder of This is Working. He has published widely on issues ranging from the environment to history to foodways to music. He serves as the Alumni Author-in-Residence at UNC-Asheville and lives in North Carolina.
About the Crook’s Corner Book Prize
Inspired by the literary prizes awarded by famous Parisian cafés such as the Deux Magots and the Café de Flore, the Crook’s Corner Book Prize honors the iconic Crook’s Corner, 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, a fitting homage to the unforgettable restaurant. For more information on the Prize and submission guidelines, please visit www.CrooksCornerBookPrize.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
CONTACT:
Kera Yonker kera.yonker@gmail.com
Crook’s Corner Book Prize 11th Annual Longlist Announced
August 3, 2023
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. The $5,000 prize winner will be announced in January 2024.
The Longlist is:
The Gospel of Rot
by Gregory Ariail
(Mercer University Press)
It Dies with You
by Scott Blackburn
(Crooked Lane Books, Penguin Random House)
The Old Place
by Bobby Finger
(G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Penguin Random House)
Hestia Strikes a Match by Christine Grillo (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Macmillan Publishers)
In Circling Flight
by Jane Harrington
(Brighthouse Books)
Indigo Field
by Marjorie Hudson
(Regal House Publishing)
Traces
by Patricia L. Hudson
(Fireside Industries, The University Press of Kentucky)
Moonrise Over New Jessup
by Jamila Minnicks
(Algonquin Books, Hachette Book
Group)
Night Wherever We Go
by Tracey Rose Peyton
(Ecco, HarperCollins Publishers)
Memphis
by Tara M. Stringfellow
(The Dial Press, Penguin Random House)
A Hand to Hold in Deep Water
by Shawn Nocher
(Blackstone Publishing)
The Violin Conspiracy
by Brendan Slocumb
(Anchor)
Judging for this year’s Prize will be Wiley Cash. Cash is an award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of four novels and the founder of This is Working. He has published widely on issues ranging from the environment to history to foodways to music. He serves as the Alumni Author-in-Residence at UNC-Asheville and lives in North Carolina.
“Ten years ago Wiley Cash’s “A Land More Kind Than Home” won the first Crook’s Corner Book Prize for best debut novel set in the American South. This year, having become a New York Times best-selling novelist, he will be the judge who chooses our winner. We are proud to have been among the first to recognize the talent in his debut novel. This is the kind of career trajectory we have endeavored to foster for new writers over the past ten years!” said Anna Hayes, Foundation President.
The Crook’s Corner Book Prize continues to highlight emerging fiction writers, who typically face some of the toughest obstacles in publishing. Although eligible books must be predominantly set in the South, authors may live anywhere, and all genres of fiction, except for Young Adult, are eligible. The 2023 Prize was awarded in January to Caroline Frost’s “Shadows of Pecan Hollow” (Morrow, HarperCollins Publishers).
The Crook’s Corner Book Prize Shortlist will be announced in September.
About the Crook’s Corner Book Prize
Inspired by the literary prizes awarded by famous Parisian cafés such as the Deux Magots and the Café de Flore, the Crook’s Corner Book Prize honors the iconic Crook’s Corner, 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, a fitting homage to the unforgettable restaurant. For more information on the Prize and submission guidelines, please visit www.CrooksCornerBookPrize.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
About the 10th Annual Book Prize Winner
Caroline Frost
Caroline Frost is a native Texan, and Shadows of Pecan Hollow is her first novel. She has a Master of Professional Writing from University of Southern California and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She lives in the LA area with her husband and three young children.
Author website: carolinefrost.com
Winner Announced for the 10th Annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize
January 9, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kera Yonker, kerayonker@gmail.com
Caroline Frost Wins $5000 Crook’s Corner Book Prize for Debut Novel
SHADOWS OF PECAN HOLLOW
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, January 9, 2023—Shadows of Pecan Hollow by Caroline Frost, published by William Morrow, is the winner of the tenth annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize for the best debut novel set in the American South.
Chosen by this year’s judge, National Book Award Finalist Ben Fountain, Shadows of Pecan Hollow is a hauntingly intimate and distinctly original debut about the complexity of love—both romantic and familial—and the bonds that define us.
Fountain says, “With Shadows of Pecan Hollow, Caroline Frost delivers a stunner of a debut novel that reads more like the work of an accomplished master. Everything you could want in a novel is here: rich, evocative settings, conflicted loyalties and hearts, and a slow fuse of a plot that throws off plenty of sparks on its way to final ignition. This immersive, full-bodied novel will keep its hooks in you long after the last page is read, and marks the arrival of a tremendously wise and talented writer. I think we can look forward to many more fine books from Caroline Frost.”
The winner was chosen from the Shortlist announced in September 2022. The three shortlisted titles also included All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris (Morrow/HarperCollins) and Bewilderness by Karen Tucker (Catapult).
Caroline Frost has a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California and is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Although she currently resides in Pasadena, California with her husband and three small children, her roots in Texas run deep. Shadows of Pecan Hollow is her first novel.
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.
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.
