Michigan Writers Cooperative Press (MWCP) is proud to announce the winners of our annual chapbook contest. This year MWCP received many excellent manuscripts and is excited to have three winners in three different genres:
FICTION: Nancy Parshall for her story collection, Proud Flesh.
POETRY: Kevin Griffin for his collection, Line and Hook.
NONFICTION: Christina Campbell is the winner for her essay, And Sarah, His Wife.
All three of these chapbooks will be published and released at a celebratory reading and reception on Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 7 pm. This event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the Writing House on the campus of the Interlochen Arts Academy to kick off their annual Writer’s Retreat. Mark your calendars and join us to celebrate the work of these fine writers.
Nancy Parshall is a traveler who spent 16 years roaming through 41 countries, notably England, Australia, and Japan. Her writing has been featured in KYSO Flash, Dunes Review, and Warmbloods Today, and has been nominated for the 2016 Best of the Net awards. Nancy is a faculty member at Northwestern Michigan College, where she teaches English, and she shares a Lake Leelanau hobby farm with her husband, David.
Nancy Parshall’s Proud Flesh was selected by fiction judge Andy Mozina. Mozina is the author of the novel Contrary Motion and a faculty member at Kalamazoo College. In Parshall’s Proud Flesh, Mozina found “well-built stories, buttressed with clear, matter-of-fact sentences, wry humor, and carefully observed details.”
Kevin Griffin teaches English and Creative Writing at Detroit Catholic Central High School. He lives in Plymouth, Michigan, with his wife, Premu, and two sons. His poetry has appeared in The Broad River Review, The MacGuffin, and Third Wednesday, among other publications.
Kevin Griffin’s Line and Hook was chosen by poetry judge Patricia Clark. Clark is Professor and Poet-in-Residence at Grand Valley State University, and the author of the newly released poetry collection, The Canopy, as well as three other volumes of poetry. Clark calls Griffin’s Line and Hook a “wonderful chapbook of poems that shows great skill in describing our ordinary world and then allowing the significance of particular moments to rise up, seemingly on their own, but of course tended and cultivated with the author’s care.”
Christina Campbell earned a MFA in Creative Nonfiction from George Mason University. She is the founder of Onely.org, where she writes about marital status discrimination, a topic she has also written on for Atlantic.com, PsychologyToday.com, and Change.org. Christina lives in Virginia, but fantasizes about settling someday in Leelanau County, Michigan, with her cats.
Christina Campbell’s And Sarah, His Wife was picked by nonfiction judge Neal Rubin. Rubin is a columnist for The Detroit News and writes the nationally syndicated cartoon, Gil Thorp. Rubin lauds Campbell’s essay as “a terrific and entertaining piece of writing that recasts history.”
Established in 2006, the MWCP seeks to recognize emerging writers by publishing limited edition chapbooks of poetry, short stories, and creative non-fiction. Past winners have gone on to receive fellowships, residencies, and to have full-length collections accepted for publication at larger presses.