Much Celebrated Jury to Decide Winner

Who: Michael Chabon, Heidi Julavits, Jonathan Lethem, Ben Marcus, and Ayelet Waldman
What: St. Francis College $50,000 Literary Prize
Deadline for Submissions: July 1, 2009

St. Francis College is pleased to announce the creation of a new $50,000 literary prize for an author's fourth book of fiction. The book can be either a novel or collection of short stories. The jury reading the entries is a literary all-star team featuring Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay), National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction winner Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn), author and co-editor of The Believer magazine Heidi Julavits (The Uses of Enchantment: A Novel), author and head of the writing MFA program at Columbia University Ben Marcus (The Age of Wire and String) and author Ayelet Waldman (Love and Other Impossible Pursuits).

"When we first talked about offering a literary award here at St. Francis College, we immediately agreed that it was vital for our students to be able to benefit," said Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean Tim Houlihan. "By setting the criteria for both a fourth work and at the dollar level we did, we are insuring that our students will be able to meet and learn from a top author."

In addition to attending an award ceremony to be scheduled for the fall, the prize recipient will also conduct a short fiction workshop for a group of students and perform a reading from the winning book.

"Coming on the heels of our new Walt Whitman Writers Series, this prize is really putting St. Francis College on the literary map," said College President Brendan J. Dugan '68. "This is the type of program that goes a long way to enhance the complete college experience for our students. And we know high school students are taking notice because the number of students applying and enrolling at St. Francis continues to grow."

Authors interested in entering can send their work to:

Ian S. Maloney
Academic Dean's Office
St. Francis College
180 Remsen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

More information is available on the St. Francis College website at www.sfc.edu/literaryprize.

St. Francis College, founded in 1859 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, is located in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Since its founding, the College has pursued its Franciscan mission to provide an affordable, high-quality education to students from New York City's five boroughs and beyond.
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St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
www.sfc.edu