News/Print

Writing prizes are great news for the recipients, but they're even more spectacular for the community: You get a whole new set of rising stars to watch make their impressive trajectory. Check out the latest on these recent winners.

• The Austin Community College has awarded the Balcones Fiction Prize to Detroit native Hanna Pylvainnen for We Sinners. The contest, now in its third year and including a $1,500 prize and trip to Austin, saw a record 101 nominations. In addition, it featured novelist Sarah Bird as the final round judge, who requested special recognition for second-place short story collection Relative Strangers by Margaret Hermes. The other finalists were:

• Sighs Too Deep for Words by William Jack Sibley
• Slant of Light by Steve Wiegenstein (Blank Slate Press)
• The Galaxie and Other Rides by Josie Sigler (Livington Press)
• The Care and Feeding of Exotic Pets by Dianna Wagman (IG Publishing)
• Losing Clementine by Ashley Ream (William Morrow)

Read more about the prize (including information on submissions for next year) on the ACC website.

• Katherine Noble this week became the first undergraduate student to win the Keene Prize for Literature for her poetry collection, Like Electrical Fire Across Silence. The senior English student spoke with The Daily Texan about some of her inspirations, her influences, and her intentions for the future. Read the full interview here.