I often write here about creative disappointment and doubt, my long-time companions in my efforts to publish my fiction; and (dare I admit it?) my wish to write the Great American Creole Novel. So, today, even though I know better than to brag (that would be poor home-training AND against Janteloven), I do want to celebrate an in-between accomplishment.
This week I learned that my novel manuscript has been selected as a finalist for the Bellwether Prize. Hooray for me!
Photo by Gaetan Lee.
The prize winner receives a very sizable check and publication by a major publishing house. The prize's founder writes:
"Fiction has a unique capacity to bring difficult issues to a broad readership on a personal level, creating empathy in a reader’s heart for the theoretical stranger. Its capacity for invoking moral and social responsibility is enormous. Throughout history, every movement toward a more peaceful and humane world has begun with those who imagined the possibilities. The Bellwether Prize seeks to support the imagination of humane possibilities."
That my work is being considered for the prize is an incredible honor. And now, I'm crossing my fingers. The winner is announced in May.
