Sophie Kerr Prize for Literary Promise Goes to Writer with Passion for Character, Connections

A happily surprised winner. Photograph by Kelly Neal.

  

NEW YORK—A short-story writer dedicated to giving authentic voice to characters as they try to connect with the people closest to them is the 2012 winner of the nation’s largest student literary award. Washington College will award the Sophie Kerr Prize to Kathryn J.  Manion at commencement May 20 in the form of a check for $58,274. 
        Manion and four other Prize finalists read their poetry and fiction aloud Tuesday night, May 15, at a private event in midtown Manhattan and then watched internationally celebrated novelist Colum McCann open an envelope and announce her name as the 2012 winner.
        For 44 years, the Sophie Kerr Prize has gone to the graduating senior at Washington College who demonstrates the greatest literary ability and promise. The other four finalists — Natalie L. Butz of Falls Church, Va., Douglas S. Carter, Jr. of Pasadena, Md., Maria N. Queen of Hagerstown, Md., and Erica A. Walburg of Pewaukee, Wis.—had submitted strong portfolios of poetry, essays, fiction and scholarship to rise to the top of the 35 seniors vying for this year’s prize. “It was an especially strong year for our student writers,” says English professor Kathryn Moncrief, chair of the 14-member Sophie Kerr Committee that judges the competition.  “We could easily have doubled the number of finalists.”

        But Manion, an English major from Clarksville, Md., took the prize with her submission of four short stories she considers works in progress, and excerpts of her thesis on the role of letter writing in literature—a study that drew from the novels of Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, George Eliot and Emily Bronte.
        The central characters of Manion’s fiction are mostly young adults in unsatisfying or damaging relationships. In one short story, an insecure college freshman yearns for a more meaningful relationship with his mother as he navigates issues of sexuality and social life.       In another, a former spelling bee champion is interrogated about the murder of his abusive father.
         “Characters and character development can bring the simplest plot or most descriptive setting to life, and they can make or break a story,” Manion writes in the introduction to the portfolio she submitted for the Prize. “I have found that finding a voice, whether a character’s or my own, can be one of the most challenging parts of the creative process.”
        She’s meeting the challenge, says Washington College English professor Bob Mooney, a member of the Sophie Kerr Committee. “There are flashes of brilliance in her ability to create voice keenly appropriate to the story in progress.” 
        “Katie excels as both a critical and a creative writer, and her scholarship and her fiction display an intensity of purpose,” adds Moncrief, a Shakespeare scholar who chairs the English Department.  “She has a terrific work ethic and is courageous and persistent in taking on difficult subjects. She is always willing to grow and develop as a writer, and her fiction is fun to read, full of wonderful surprises.” 
        Manion, who minors in Creative Writing and Anthropology, has been a leader in the community of student writers at Washington College. She has been at the helm of the Writers’ Union, a student run group that gathers at the Rose O'Neill Literary House for workshops, readings and social events and publishes an online literary journal. She also participated in the Writers’ Theater and edited copy for the campus literary magazine, The Collegian.
        The Sophie Kerr Prize is the namesake of an Eastern Shore woman who forged a successful career in the New York publishing world. Born in Denton, Md., in 1880, she graduated from Hood College and worked as the women’s page editor at two Pittsburgh newspapers before moving to New York and becoming managing editor of the Woman’s Home Companion. A prolific writer, Kerr wrote 23 novels and published hundreds of short stories in the popular magazines of the day, including The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, and McCall’s.
        When she died in 1965, she left more than $500,000 to Washington College with the stipulation that half the income from the bequest would be awarded annually to the senior showing “the most ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor.” Over the years, the endowment from Kerr’s gift has provided more than $1.4 million in prize money to promising young writers, in amounts that have ranged from $9,000 the inaugural year, 1968, to a high of nearly $69,000 in 2009. The winners have gone on to establish careers as writers, editors, teachers, and marketing professionals, and many have published their work as novels or collections of short stories or poetry.
        The other half of Kerr’s bequest funds scholarships and library acquisitions and brings a parade of world-class literary figures to campus for public readings and workshops. Such literary luminaries as Edward Albee, Jonathan Franzen and Toni Morrison have visited Washington College under the auspices of the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series. Recent guests have included novelists Junot Diaz and Nick Flynn and poet Natasha Trethewey.

Fellow finalists applaud winner Manion after her name 
is announced. Photograph by Kelly Neal.

Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college to be chartered in the new nation. For more information, visit http://www.washcoll.edu.

Finalists for 2012 Sophie Kerr Prize Announced

Congratulations to the 2012 Finalists: seated, Doug Carter, Maria  Queen, Katie Manion; standing,  Erica Walburg and Natalie Butz.

 * Read Portfolio Excerpts * 

* More about Sophie Kerr *

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College has named five finalists for the famous Sophie Kerr Prize, the largest undergraduate literary prize in the nation, this year valued at more than $58,000.  They are:

Natalie Butz, an English major from Falls Church, Va., who minors in History, Psychology and Creative Writing.  In her four years in Chestertown, Butz has served as Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper, The Elm, worked in the Writing Center, participated in drama productions, joined the Douglass Cater Society of Junior Fellows, and achieved distinction as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She traveled to Tanzania as part of the College’s summer program there, spent a semester studying in Ireland and worked in New York as an intern at Folio Literary Management. Her writing portfolio includes excerpts from a historical novel-in-progress, short stories, and articles published in The Elm, the Chestertown Spy and Washington College Magazine. “Her creative work is distinctive for its commitment to research, and she tackles difficult topics such as race, class and gender with real honesty,” judges from the Sophie Kerr Committee said of her portfolio.

Douglas S. Carter, Jr., an English and Art History double major with a minor in Creative Writing who hails from Pasadena, Md. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Carter has volunteered in New Zealand through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WOOF) and, as a Douglass Cater Fellow, hiked the mountain ranges of Northern England and Southern Ireland on Professor Richard Gillin’s Kiplin Hall trip. His writing portfolio includes poems, short non-fiction, scholarly writing and a travel essay. “Doug’s portfolio is defined by a passionate interest in literature and the arts and an engagement with social issues, especially environmental stewardship,” said one judge. “He is optimistic and believes in the power of the arts to do good in the world. He establishes an intimacy with the readers, and his intellectually cordial personality shows through.” Local residents may know Doug through his work as a barista at Sam’s coffee shop and a server at the Chester River Yacht and Country Club. After graduation, he will intern for the new vineyard and winery at Crow Farm, a B & B and grass-fed beef farm in Kennedyville, Md.

Kathryn Manion, a resident of Clarksville, Md., who majors in English with minors in Creative Writing and Anthropology. Involved with many on-campus publications, Manion  has worked as a consultant at the Writing Center and served as head of the Writers’ Union for the past two years. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Douglass Cater Society of Junior Fellows, and the English and Anthropology honor societies. Her writing portfolio included short stories and an excerpt from her senior thesis on letter-writing in novels. The judging committee described Manion as a mature, focused student whose scholarship and fiction both display an intensity of purpose. “Her fiction shows flashes of brilliance through her ability to create voice keenly appropriate to the story in progress. Both on the page and as a member of this community, Katie has a quiet confidence in her ability to lead, write and edit,” they added. This summer, Manion will attend the University of Denver Publishing Institute’s prestigious program in writing and editing.

Maria Noelle Queen, a Humanities major and Creative Writing minor from Hagerstown, Md. Queen, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, submitted 18 pages of poetry to the Sophie Kerr Committee, much of it focused on the relationship between a daughter and her parents.  “Her poetry is at times very funny and at times very sad, and it manages to be both extremely personal and yet objective about how she sees herself in the world,” said one committee member. “She has a well defined voice for a young writer and manages that difficult balance between subjective and objective very well.” An avid gamer, Queen hopes to work as a writer for a video game production company such as Bethesda or Bioware, developing plot, characters and dialog.

Erica Walburg, a double major in English and Studio Art from Pewaukee, Wis., who minors in Creative Writing. Walburg is a member of the Douglass Cater Society of Junior Fellows and the Sigma Tau Delta English Honors Society and has been involved in myriad campus activities, including acting in drama productions, singing with the Vocal Consort, serving as Vice President of the Writers’ Union, and editing the Washington College Review, an annual liberal arts journal. She also interned for a summer at The American Scholar, the magazine published by Phi Beta Kappa. Walburg’s portfolio includes parts of a novel, poetry and her thesis on the history and evolution of the graphic novel, which incorporates her research on Aristotle and Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novelist Art Spiegelman. “Erica’s work reflects her Midwestern roots and her interest in the marriage of the verbal and the visual,” the committee said of her writing. “As she says in the introduction to her portfolio, she wants to return words to their basic function as visual symbols.” 

The five finalists, all graduating seniors who submitted portfolios of their writing to be judged, will travel to New York City for a special program and reception on May 15. There, in a private club in midtown Manhattan, they will read selections from their portfolios and then hold their breath as internationally renowned novelist Colum McCann opens an envelope and announces the winner. The entire program will be livestreamed through the Washington College Web site (www.washcoll.edu) beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The actual check, in the amount of $58,274.11, will be awarded during Washington College’s 229th commencement on Sunday morning, May 20.

A total of 35 seniors applied for the Prize, and they represented a mix of disciplines—not only the expected English majors and Creative Writing minors, but also 15 other majors that included Physics, Philosophy, Business Management, Art and International Relations. The finalists and the eventual winner were selected by members of the Sophie Kerr Committee — the 13 full-time members of the English faculty plus the College president. Committee chair Kathryn Moncrief, chair of the English Department, says this was a strong year for student writing. “This year’s portfolios were remarkable for the scope of their concerns and topics and the depth with which they handled them,” she elaborated. “We could easily have doubled the number of finalists we selected.”

This is only the second time in the 45-year history of the prize that the Sophie Kerr Committee has named finalists. In the past, the name of the single recipient was announced during Commencement, but the names of those who came close remained a secret the committee members vowed not to disclose.

This is also the second year that author McCann, whose novel Let the Great World Spin won the 2009 National Book Award and the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, will offer keynote remarks and announce the winner.

In holding the announcement ceremony in New York, the College acknowledges the importance of the city as the literary capital of the world and the personal journey of Prize benefactor Sophie Kerr.  A native of Denton, Md., Kerr moved to New York as a young woman and built a successful 40-year career as national magazine editor and writer. Her townhouse on East 38^th Street became a literary salon for her friends in journalism and the arts. At her death, she bequeathed much of her estate to Washington College, with the stipulation that half its income would be awarded annually to the senior showing “the most ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor.”

The other half of the endowment brings a steady stream of notable writers, authors and editors to campus for readings and workshops, provides scholarships for students who show literary promise, pays for library books, and supports various other literary activities.

Anthropology Major Takes Nation's Top Student Literary Prize, the Sophie Kerr

NEW YORK—An Anthropology major who wrote about a life-changing trip to Tanzania and the simple pleasures of life in a one-intersection town in the Maryland countryside has won the largest student literary prize in the nation, the Sophie Kerr Prize.

Lisa Beth Jones, who grew up in tiny Fork, northeast of Baltimore, was named the winner Tuesday evening, May 17, at a special reception at Poets House in New York. That means she will cap her four years of study at Washington College this coming Sunday by walking off the commencement stage with a check for $61,062—a prize believed to the be the largest awarded to any senior anywhere this graduation season.

For 43 years, the Sophie Kerr Prize has gone to the graduating senior at Washington College who demonstrates the greatest literary ability and promise. Jones earned it with a portfolio of nonfiction work that includes travel writing, recollections of family life on a farm, and excerpts from her senior thesis on African immigrants in America. In writing about the month she spent on a College-sponsored trip to Tanzania the spring of her Junior year, she delivered sensory postcards of the land and the people based on entries from her weathered travel journal.

The committee of 13 English professors who selected Jones from among 30 portfolios, were impressed with the way she shaped a sense of place with her language and with the maturity she brought to her observations and her craft. “She takes a place that means a lot to her, whether her home town or a country in Africa, and, through a constellation of anecdotes and the powers of description, makes that place come alive for others,” says Kathryn Moncrief, the chair of the Sophie Kerr Committee. “Her writing was intimate, honest and vivid.”

While at Washington College, Jones earned a place on the Dean’s List every semester and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She also made time to work in the College’s Geographic Information Systems Lab and to help other students in the campus writing center. She finished her required coursework in December and has since worked as the Grants & Contracts Coordinator at the International Youth Foundation in Baltimore and as a travel writer for Examiner.com.

This year, for the first time, the Sophie Kerr Committee also selected four finalists for the prize. They are:

Maggie Farell, 22, a Drama major from Hatfield, Pa. who submitted a full length stage play and short stories about working her first job—and learning Hindi—at a Dunkin Donuts.

Dan McCloskey, 21, of Ellicott City, Md., an English major who minored in Spanish and Creative Writing. His creative nonfiction manuscript captured in stark and powerful fashion his struggles with the vision deficiencies that render him legally blind.

Insley Smullen, 22, of Frederick, Md., an English major whose fascination with the natural world and love of language shone through in her poetry and creative nonfiction.

And Joe Yates, 22, a Tampa native who double majored in Biology and Studio Art and wrote about everything from elderly relatives to complex scientific theories with sophistication and humor.

The Sophie Kerr Prize is the namesake of an Eastern Shore woman who forged a successful career in the New York publishing world. Born in 1880 in Denton, Md., some 30 miles from Washington College, she graduated from Hood College and launched her career briefly in Pittsburgh as the women’s page editor at two newspapers. After moving to New York, she became managing editor of the Woman’s Home Companion. A prolific writer, Kerr published 23 novels and published hundreds of short stories in the popular magazines of the day, including The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, and McCall’s.

When she died in 1965, she left more than $500,000 to Washington College with the stipulation that half the income from the bequest would be awarded annually to the senior showing “the most ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor.” Over the years, the endowment from Kerr’s gift has provided more than $1.4 million in prize money to promising young writers, in amounts that have ranged from $9,000 the inaugural year, 1968, to a high of nearly $69,000 in 2009. The winners have gone on to establish careers as writers, editors, teachers, and marketing professionals, and many have published their work as novels or collections of short stories or poetry.

The other half of Kerr’s bequest funds scholarships and library acquisitions, and brings a parade of world-class literary figures from across all genres to campus for public readings and workshops. Such literary luminaries as Edward Albee, Jonathan Franzen, Allen Ginsberg, Toni Morrison and William Styron have visited Washington College under the auspices of the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series.

Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college to be chartered in the new nation. For more information, visit http://www.washcoll.edu.

Photo: Lisa Jones with primary school students in Tanzania.

In the News

Baltimore Sun, 5/17/11

Wall Street Journal, 5/17/11

Washington College Names Five Finalists for its Famous Literary Award, the Sophie Kerr Prize

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Update 5/17: Anthropology Major Takes Nation’s Top Student Literary Prize, the Sophie Kerr
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CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College has named five finalists for the famous Sophie Kerr Prize, the largest undergraduate literary prize in the nation. The generous cash prize, this year valued at more than $61,000, is believed to be the largest cash prize of any kind being awarded to a college senior this graduation season. The winner will be announced May 17.

The 2011 finalists represent a mix of disciplines—not only English majors and Creative Writing minors, but also majors in Biology, Anthropology and Art. The portfolios they submitted to the Sophie Kerr Committee in late April contained a diverse sampling of writing, too, from poetry and fiction to non-fiction and travel writing. The finalists are:

Maggie Farrell, a 22-year-old Drama major from Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Farrell served as the president of Fakespeare, a comedic Shakespearean troupe, and the student-run Riverside Players. She received the Mary Martin Scholarship, which is awarded to a student majoring in Drama who demonstrates great dedication to any area of the theater arts. Her portfolio includes a collection of short stories about her first job and examples of her work as a playwright. After graduation, she will be apprenticing at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media, Pennsylvania.

Lisa Jones, a 22-year-old from Fork, Maryland, who majored in Anthropology and minored in Creative Writing. Jones achieved distinction as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was on the Dean’s List every semester of her college career. She also served as a writing center consultant and worked in the Geographic Information Systems Lab. The highlight of her academic career was spending time abroad in Tanzania last spring learning about Maasai culture and volunteering in primary schools. Her portfolio comprises creative non-fiction—including personal essays about her experiences in Tanzania and life growing up in a small town—and a portion of her thesis that focuses on African immigrants in the United States. After finishing her Washington College classes early in December, she put her passion for international development and writing to work as the Grants & Contracts Coordinator at the International Youth Foundation in Baltimore.


Dan McCloskey, a 21-year-old from Ellicott City, Maryland, who majored in English and minored in Spanish and Creative Writing. McCloskey worked for the past year as the editor-in-chief of the College’s magazine of features and creative arts, The Collegian, and also as a technical support assistant at the campus Information Technology Help Desk. His portfolio includes a large section of his creative non-fiction manuscript “LIGHTS,” which focuses on his experiences with a vision deficiency and anxiety disorder. His portfolio also contains poems, other small non-fiction pieces, and two critical essays that examine specific uses of narrative and style in Shakespeare’s work and in modern poetry. He hopes to pursue his MFA with a focus in non-fiction.

Insley Smullen, a 22-year-old student from Frederick, Maryland. Smullen majored in English with a minor in Creative Writing. She was a member of the Writers’ Union, a club for student writers on campus, and worked at the College’s Rose O' Neill Literary House. Her portfolio spans a wide range of genres, from short stories to poetry to creative nonfiction. After graduation, she plans to continue her exploration of the art of writing and photography and find a job that supports what she describes as her “obsession with the written word.”

Joseph L. L. Yates, a 22-year-old double major in Biology and Studio Art who hails from Tampa, Florida. Yates founded and served as President of both the Artists’ Union, a club for students in the visual arts, and the Guerrilla Musical Theatre Troupe, which creates improv song-and-dance performances. He worked as a consultant for the Multimedia Production Center on campus and as a staff writer for the features periodical, The Collegian. His portfolio of writing includes creative nonfiction that addresses both his personal life and contemporary scientific theory, several works of fiction, a smattering of poems, and one “not-quite-children-oriented storybook.” After graduation, Yates hopes to find a job as a writer.

This is the first time in the 44-year history of the prize that the Sophie Kerr Committee, which includes the 13 members of the English Department faculty and the college president, has named finalists. In the past, the name of the single recipient was announced but the names of those who came close remained a secret the committee members vowed not to disclose. As one committee member has commented about the winner-takes-all approach of the past, “One senior walks away from graduation with a check for $64,000, and the student who comes in second never even knows it.”

The naming of finalists is just one of the changes the College is making in announcing and awarding this year’s Prize. For the first time ever, there will be a special reception for the finalists in New York City, where for 40 years Sophie Kerr lived and built her successful career as a national magazine editor and writer. The reception is being held Tuesday, May 17, at 6:30 p.m. at Poets House, a literary center and poetry library on the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan. Internationally prominent author Colum McCann, whose novel Let the Great World Spin won the 2009 National Book Award, will offer keynote remarks and announce the big winner.

At a simultaneous party on the Washington College campus in Chestertown, the local and campus community can watch the announcement live on several big screens. The party will be held in the Casey Academic Forum on campus, 300 Washington Avenue, beginning at 6:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. (For more information, call the alumni office at 410-778-7812.) Those unable to be in New York or Chestertown can watch the ceremony live by streaming the simulcast from a link provided on the College homepage: (http://www.washcoll.edu).

Come May 22, the Sunday of Washington College’s 228th Commencement, the Sophie Kerr Prize, in the form of a check for $61,062.11, will be officially awarded to the winner.

Washington College Announces Plans for Sophie Kerr Prize Events in Chestertown and NYC

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College has announced major changes in the way its famous Sophie Kerr Prize, the largest undergraduate literary prize in the world, will be awarded this spring. Changes include the first-ever naming of finalists; a special reception for those finalists in New York City, where an internationally prominent novelist will announce the big winner; and a simultaneous party in Chestertown where the local community can watch the announcement live on a big screen.

The excitement begins Friday morning, May 13, when the Sophie Kerr Committee meets in secret to discuss student portfolios and select as many as five finalists for the Prize. The names of the finalists will be announced that day at a 2:30 p.m. press conference for local media.

On Tuesday, May 17, the finalists will meet in New York at an evening reception at Poets House, a literary center on the banks of the Hudson River. The celebration will feature a keynote talk from Colum McCann, winner of the 2009 National Book Award for his novel Let the Great World Spin. McCann, whose book award came with a check for $10,000, will then announce the winner of the Sophie Kerr Prize, this year valued at more than $61,000.

The reception at Poets House will begin at 6:30 p.m. At the same time, Washington College will host a wine and cheese reception in Chestertown, at which the campus and community will watch a simulcast of McCann’s talk and the announcement of the winner in real time on a big screen. The party will be held in the Casey Academic Forum on campus, 300 Washington Avenue, and will be free and open to the public.

Come May 22, the Sunday of Washington College’s 228^th Commencement, the Sophie Kerr Prize and a check for $61,062.11 will be officially awarded to the winner.

The members of the Sophie Kerr Committee say the new plan will relieve the stress and emotional angst the prize has caused at past graduations for students and their families. “If you have 30 students who applied, one will be ecstatic when the winner is announced,” says English professor Rich Gillin, interim chair of the Sophie Kerr committee, “but the other 29 are going to leave the last day of college feeling pretty miserable.”

In addition, the selection of finalists and the announcement in New York spreads the glory and gives the finalists a memorable experience in the publishing capital of the world. According to Sophie Kerr’s will, the college cannot disaggregate the prize money, but it can disaggregate the prestige and give more students, as finalists, the chance to add an impressive achievement to their resumes.

“I just think that this can be an enhancement of a wonderful tradition at Washington College,” says President Mitchell Reiss. “It’s a way to benefit more students while showcasing our writing program and our rich literary heritage to a wider audience.”

Photo: Sophie Kerr, whose short stories were published in the major women's magazines of her day, specified that half the income from her generous bequest to Washington College be awarded each year to the graduating senior who showed the most literary ability and promise.

Bestselling Author Mary Gordon To Give Reading At Washington College

Chestertown – Bestselling novelist Mary Gordon will present a fiction reading in the Sophie Kerr Room at Washington College’s Miller Library on Thursday, September 17, at 4:30 p.m.

The reading is the first offering in “The Living Writers,” a fall program of visiting authors presented as part of the 2009-2010 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series.

Gordon is the author of several bestselling novels as well as short stories, memoirs, essays and criticism.

She is known for her investigations of Catholic family life, Catholic spirituality, thwarted love, moral struggle, personal sacrifice, female identity and family pain. In addition to her successful career as an author, Gordon is Millicent McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College.

Gordon is often praised for her deep insights, lyrical writing, and what Los Angeles Times critic Ellen Akins called “her delicate rendering of the drama of consciousness.”

Recent books by Gordon include the biography Joan of Arc, the essay collection Seeing Through Places: Reflections on Geography and Identity, the novel Spending: A Utopian Divertimento, and the bestselling memoir of her secretive, tormented father, The Shadow Man.

Gordon’s latest novel, Pearl, is the the story of a single mother who sets out to prevent her daughter from killing herself in a hunger strike in Dublin.

The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College’s literary culture.

When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to Washington College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most “ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor”—the famed Sophie Kerr Prize—and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships and to help defray the costs of student publications.

“The Living Writers” will continue with Sophie Kerr Room readings by authors Jeff Talarigo on October 1, Dan Chaon (a National Book Award finalist) on October 13, and Debra Spark on November 12.

Admission to the Mary Gordon reading is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7879.

Poet Mark Nowak To Head Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House

Mark Nowak, a genre-blending poet whose work combines language, drama and photography in innovative ways, has been appointed Director of Washington College’s Rose O’Neill Literary House.

Nowak comes to Washington College from St. Catherine University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was Associate Professor of Humanities and taught for 17 years.

Nowak is the author of three books of poetry, including Shut Up Shut Down (with an afterword by Amiri Baraka). Shut Up Shut Down was a New York Times “Editor’s Choice” and a finalist for Academy of American Poets’ James Laughlin Award.

Poet Adrienne Rich has hailed Nowak as “a poet of remarkable gifts,” who “is generating a new poetics of class.”

Described as a “documentary poet” due to his work’s journalistic approaches toward real-world issues, Nowak is most recently the author of Coal Mountain Elementary, a work that relates the mining disaster of Sago, West Virginia, to a variety of mining accidents in China. Howard Zinn characterized this book as a work that “manages, in photos and in words, to portray an entire culture, the culture of the miner and his family, and it is a stunning educational tool.”

Nowak’s work has been widely anthologized. He is one of a dozen poets to be included in American Poets in the 21st Century: The New Poetics, and his work appears in An Anthology of New (American) Poets, Poets of the Great Plains, and America Loomed Before Us: Contemporary Poetry from the Other USA.

He is the founder and editor of XCP: Cross-Cultural Poetics, a journal that was launched in 1997. Nowak will be relocatinng the journal with him to Washington College, where student interns will have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of academic periodical publishing by working with XCP.

Nowak’s teaching experience at St. Catherine University has been supplemented by his work teaching poetry and writing in alternative environments including the Twin Cities Ford Assembly Plant, the United Steelworkers of America, Stillwater Prison, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, and in public school outreach programs in Bowling Green, Minneapolis and Chicago.

“As incoming director of the Literary House, I’m eager to meet everyone in the Washington College community,” Nowak said. “And whatever your relationship to the word--be it as an aspiring graphic novelist, a spoken-word artist, a history student or historian trying to revise your next essay, or someone who just wants to spend a half hour ‘talking books’ – I hope you’ll make the Rose O’Neill Literary House your destination.”

Since 1968, Washington College has awarded the Sophie Kerr Prize, the largest literary prize in the world exclusively for undergraduates. In its 39 years the Prize has ranged in value from $9,000 to as high as $65,000. The Kerr endowment has also brought a parade of distinguished writers to the Chestertown, Maryland, campus, including Toni Morrison, Edward Albee, James Dickey, John Barth and Joyce Carol Oates. The Rose O’Neill Literary House is the co-curricular center of literary activity at Washington College, as well as the home of the Writers Union, a large and thriving club of student writers.

“We’re quite excited that Mark is taking the helm of the Rose O’Neill Literary House program,” said Christopher Ames, provost and dean of the college. “He will build on the traditions that have made the Literary House a haven for the creative arts, and he will contribute fresh ideas and new energy to Washington College’s already vibrant literary community.”

Washington College Awards Nation's Largest Undergraduate Literary Prize at 226th Commencement

Graduating Senior Wins $68,814

Chestertown, MD — Most college seniors will look back on their graduation ceremony as a day of pomp and circumstance culminating in a handshake and a diploma. For William Bruce, 21, a Washington College English major from Rydal, PA, the ceremony brought another reward: a check for $68,814.

Bruce's prizewinning portfolio—a collection of poems, critical essays and creative nonfiction—earned him the largest literary award in the country exclusively for undergraduates, the Sophie Kerr Prize, presented Sunday, May 17, 2009, during the College's 226th Commencement ceremonies.

The awarding of the Sophie Kerr Prize, given annually to the graduating senior who demonstrates the greatest "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor," has in recent decades been a highlight of the commencement ceremony at the liberal arts college on Maryland's Eastern Shore. This year's Prize—at its highest-ever dollar amount, despite a declining economy—ranks among the largest literary awards in the world.

Bruce was one of 31 students to submit a portfolio for consideration this year, competing in what English Professor Kathryn Moncrief described as a "talented and deep pool of contenders" representing diverse genres. "We saw incredible promise in this year's group," Moncrief said. "We expect many will be successful as writers, scholars, and editors." Moncrief chairs both the English Department at Washington College and the Sophie Kerr Committee, which awards the Prize.

What made Bruce a stand-out, Moncrief said, was his range. Bruce's portfolio included six poems, a critical essay on three contemporary poets, a meditative essay on the Inauguration of Barack Obama, an excerpt from a larger work of creative nonfiction incorporating oral testimony from a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, and a personal essay entitled "Super Team for Jesus."

"He tackled three different genres with equal facility," Moncrief said.

"Will is an extraordinarily promising writer," said Joshua Wolf Shenk, the director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House, and Bruce's instructor in creative non-fiction. "He's able to develop gripping stories, with compelling images, even as he maintains a self-conscious relationship to the construction of narrative. He's an exciting, energetic voice."

Professor Jehanne Dubrow, who taught Bruce in her poetry class, commented on Bruce's "confident and adventurous voice" as well as his "understanding of the ethical responsibilities of the poet." "His poems show the influences of his study," Dubrow said.

Professor Robert Mooney, who advised Bruce on some of his prose projects, called Bruce "a writer who looks at others with empathy and curiosity. He gives a voice to those who are voiceless."

Bruce is a 2005 graduate of Abington Senior High School in Abington, PA.

The Sophie Kerr Prize is the namesake of an Eastern Shore woman who made her fortune in New York writing women's fiction during the 1930s and 1940s. In accordance with the terms of her will, one-half of the annual income from her bequest to the College is awarded each year to the graduating senior demonstrating the best potential for literary achievement. The other half funds scholarships, student publications and the purchase of books, and brings an array of visiting writers, editors and publishers to campus to read, visit classes, and discuss student work. Her gift has provided the nucleus for a thriving community of writers on the bucolic Eastern Shore campus.

Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it is the first college chartered in the new nation.

Groundbreaking Journalism, Award-Winning Poetry and More: Washington College's 2008-2009 Literary Line-Up Announced

Chestertown, MD — From Shakespeare to sports to a Pulitzer Prize-winner and a U.S. Poet Laureate, a rich and varied literary line-up graces Washington College's events calendar in 2008-2009.

The College's writing-related traditions run deep; between the annual Sophie Kerr Lecture Series and a full slate of offerings from the Rose O'Neill Literary House, the historic Chestertown campus welcomes a bounteous array of literary events with the advent of the school year.

The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to Washington College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor"—the famed Sophie Kerr Prize—and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships and to help defray the costs of student publications.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House, which underwent an extensive restoration and renovation last spring, is known far and wide as the hub of Washington College's writing community. For nearly 25 years it has served as the venue for co-curricular activities that bring together students and faculty with visiting writers, scholars, editors and other literary artists; theWashington Post dubbed it "the Carnegie Hall of literary readings."

The 2008-2009 Washington College itinerary of literary events will feature:

Historical Lit with Henry Wiencek "'A Paradox to Posterity': Jefferson and Slavery at Monticello"

Casey Academic Center Forum, Monday, September 8, 4:30 p.m.

Henry Wiencek, a leading American historian, is the author of The Hairsons: An American Family in Black and White (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award) and An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, (winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history). In 2008-2009, Wiencek is the debut Patrick Henry Fellow at Washington College. The Patrick Henry Fellowship, co-sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Rose O'Neill Literary House, brings a top historical writer to Chestertown for a year of writing, reflection and engagement with students and faculty. Wiencek will address the topic of his forthcoming book, a study of Jefferson and his slaves.

Wiencek's lecture is the opening event in the Rose O'Neill Literary House's "Literature of the Fact: Masters of Topical Non-Fiction" Series.

Helen Cooper Lecture: "Shakespeare and the Canterbury Tales: The Case ofA Midsummer Night's Dream"

Casey Academic Center Forum, Tuesday, September 9, 4:30 p.m.

Helen Cooper is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. She is the author of numerous works of scholarship including The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare, Pastoral: Mediaeval into Renaissance,and The Structure of the Canterbury Tales. Her Washington College presentation opens this year's Sophie Kerr Lecture Series.

Sports Lit with Stefan Fatsis

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Tuesday, September 16, 7:30 p.m.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House's "Literature of the Fact" series continues with a presentation by one of America's leading writers on the business and culture of sports. A staff writer for theWall Street Journal and a regular commentator to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," Stefan Fatsis is the author of three books. Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America's Heartland followed a troupe of antiestablishment baseball entrepreneurs. Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players chronicled the obsessive subculture of the iconic board game. And Fatsis's most recent work, A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL is the Plimptonian story of his summer as a training-camp placekicker for the Denver Broncos.

Fiction Reading with Alexis Stamatis

Casey Academic Center Forum, Wednesday, September 17, 4:30 p.m.

The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series continues with a reading by Alexis Stamatis, author of 14 books: eight novels and novellas as well as six collections of poetry. His work appears in many leading Greek magazines and newspapers. He has worked as Chief Editor for foreign literature for the Metaixmio Publishing House in Greece, and as a journalist, literary critic and architect. American Fugue, from which he will be reading at Washington College, is his first book published in the United States.

The Paris Review and War Lit with Philip Gourevitch

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Thursday, October 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The Goldstein Program in Public Affairs joins the Rose O'Neill Literary House in presenting the third offering of the "Literature of the Fact" series—a two-part appearance by celebrated journalist Philip Gourevitch. His searing account of the Rwandan genocide, We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families, won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the George K. Polk Award for Foreign Reporting.

A long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, and the editor of The Paris Review, Gourevitch is also the author of Standard Operating Procedure, with Erroll Morris, about the prisoner abuse at Abu Graib in Iraq.

At 4:30 p.m. on Oct 2, Gourevitch will offer an in-depth look at The Paris Review and working in publishing and the literary field (open to members of the Washington College community.) At 7:30 pm, he will give a reading from his works (open to the public).

Poetry Reading with Jehanne Dubrow

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Tuesday, October 7, 4:30 p.m.

The Sophie Kerr Series' October offering features Jehanne Dubrow, a Visiting Professor of English at Washington College. Dubrow's work has appeared in Poetry, The Hudson Review, The New England Review, Shenandoah, Barrow Street and Gulf Coast. She is the author of a chapbook, The Promised Bride (Finishing Line Press). Her full-length collection won the 2007 Three Candles Press First Book Prize and will be published in 2008.

"Navigate Your MFA" and a Poetry Reading by Deborah Landau

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Monday, October 27, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House, the Sophie Kerr Committee and the Office of Career Development come together to present an appearance by award-winning poet Deborah Landau. Her 2004 collection, Orchidelirium, was a National Poetry Series finalist. Director of the Creative Writing Program at NYU, she is a two-time winner of the Los Angeles Poetry in the Windows Contest and was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

At 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, Landau will provide tips and information about choosing and pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree (the event is open to members of the Washington College community). At 7:30 p.m. she will give a poetry reading (open to the public).

Food Lit with Amanda Hesser

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Friday, November 14, 4 p.m.

"Literature of the Fact" explores the art of culinary prose with Amanda Hesser, former food editor of The New York Times. She is the author of the award-winning The Cook and the Gardener, Cooking for Mr. Latte and Eat, Memory. It will be a special afternoon of readings, conversation and freshly made treats from Hesser's recipes.

Rock Lit with Dan Kennedy

Norman James Theatre, Thursday, November 20, 8 p.m.

From writing about food culture to writing about music culture, "Literature of the Fact" next plays host to rising literary star Dan Kennedy. With his pieces in McSweeney's and his memoir Loser Goes First, Kennedy established himself as one of the funniest writers in America. With his follow up, Rock On: A Corporate Office Ballad, he has cemented that reputation and also shown his chops as a first-rate writer on music and the music scene. TheNew York Times called Rock On "a succession of gently mordant vignettes, with hilariously spot-on asides about media image-making, music-biz hierarchies and sensitive singer-songwriters... Neither Kennedy nor the music business will ever be the same."

Annual Freshman Reading

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 7 p.m.

Washington College's newest crop of up-and-coming literary talents will present their annual reading, with a reception to follow. The event is co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Writers' Union and the Rose O'Neill Literary House.

Poetry Reading with Thom Ward

Casey Academic Center Forum, Thursday, February 26, 2009, 4:30 p.m.

The Sophie Kerr Series presents poet Thom Ward on February 26. In addition to penning his own verses, Ward is editor for BOA Editions, Ltd., an independent publishing house of American poetry and poetry in translation. Ward's poetry collections include Various Orbitsand Small Boat with Oars of Different Size. His poetry chapbook, Tumblekid, was the winner of the 1998 Devil's Millhopper Poetry Contest.

Poetry Reading with Ted Kooser

Norman James Theatre, Friday, March 27, 2009, 4 p.m.

The jewel in the crown of the Sophie Kerr Series each year is Sophie Kerr Weekend, and the keynote event of Sophie Kerr Weekend 2009 will be a much-anticipated reading by two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. The highly regarded Nebraskan poet was the first poet from the Great Plains to hold the Laureate position. A professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kooser is the author of 11 full-length collections of poetry, includingDelights and Shadows (Copper Canyon Press, 2004) and Weather Central (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994). His newest book, The Poetry Home Repair Manual, gives beginning poets tips for their writing.

Over the years Kooser's works have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Poetry, The Hudson Review, The Nation, The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, and Antioch Review. He has received two NEA fellowships in poetry, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, The James Boatwright Prize, and a Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. He is the winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for his bookDelights & Shadows.

Lisa Couturier on "Urban Animals Unveiled"

Casey Academic Center Forum, Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 4:30 p.m.

The Center for Environment & Society joins forces with the Sophie Kerr Committee to present a program on environmental journalism during Earth Month. Lisa Couturier is a nature writer who has worked as an environmental journalist and as a magazine editor, during which time she traveled to remote parts of South America, Central America and Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in the well regarded American Nature Writing series, in National Geographic's Heart of a Nation: Writers and Photographers Inspired by the American Landscape, in the PBS series "Writers Writing," and in other anthologies and magazines. She is the author of The Hopes of Snakes: And Other Tales from the Urban Landscape.

Annual Senior Reading

Rose O'Neill Literary House, Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7 p.m.

An enduring rite of spring at Washington College is the annual Senior Reading, an occasion to bid farewell to the budding authors of the graduating class while hearing them read from their original pieces. Followers of the Sophie Kerr Prize generally regard the Senior Reading as a key early indicator of who the front-runners for the prize will be. The event is co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Writers' Union and the Rose O'Neill Literary House.

The Rose O'Neill Literary House has three other spring 2009 events to watch for: a Graphic Narrative Festival (featuring comic-book legend Neil Gaiman), a Creative Arts Career Fair and a Songwriting Workshop. More details will be forthcoming.

Throughout the fall and spring, the Rose O'Neill Literary House will host periodic community meetings; for more information on these and all other Literary House events, call 410/778-7899 or visit lithouse.washcoll.edu.

Admission to all Sophie Kerr Lecture Series events is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7879.

September 3, 2008

Maryland College Awards Nation's Largest Undergraduate Literary Prize at 225th Commencement

22-Year-Old Senior from Baltimore Wins $67,481

Chestertown, MD — Most college seniors will look back on their graduation ceremony as a day of pomp and circumstance culminating in a handshake and a diploma. For Emma Sovich, 22, a Washington College English major from Baltimore, the ceremony brought another reward: a check for $67,481.

Sovich's prizewinning portfolio—a collection of poems, critical essays and essays from her blog—earned her the largest literary award in the country exclusively for undergraduates—the Sophie Kerr Prize—presented Sunday, May 18, 2008, during the College's 225th Commencement ceremonies.

The awarding of the Sophie Kerr Prize, given annually to the graduating senior who demonstrates the greatest "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor," has in recent decades been a highlight of the commencement ceremony at the 225-year-old liberal arts college. The Prize, worth $67,481 this year, is among the largest literary awards in the world.

Sovich was one of 17 to submit a portfolio for consideration this year, a relatively small pool due to a smaller senior class than in previous years, but according to English Professor Kathryn Moncrief, a competitive group nonetheless. "This was an exceptionally talented group of writers," Moncrief said. "representing a healthy diversity of genres and considerable experimentation with those genres." Moncrief chairs both the English Department at Washington College and the Sophie Kerr Committee, which awards the Prize.

A self-described printer, pot-thrower, writer, sketcher and poet, Sovich herself seems to embody a diversity of interests. In addition to crafting her poems, Sovich was a "printer's devil" in the printshop of the College's Rose O'Neill Literary House, hand-setting type and printing books on antique letterpress equipment. Her blog, "The Composing Stick" explores the nuances and gritty realities of old fashioned printing in a modern world.

"Emma has a passion for process that equals her passion for the beautiful finished product," Moncrief said. "She is an outstanding citizen of the literary community and a lover of the literary arts in all their forms."

Professor Peter Campion, a poet himself, and also the adviser who worked with Sovich on her poetry cited Sovich's "facility for condensed, vivacious language, sympathy for her subjects, and dynamic connection to the literary tradition," in applauding her selection.

Sovich and two classmates created handmade volumes of their work using antique presses and hand binding tools. At the same time she was working on the English Department's website and maintaining her own blog, which grew out of her experiences at the printshop of the Rose O'Neill Literary House, a center for literature and creative life at Washington College.

"On top of Emma's poetry," said Joshua Wolf Shenk, the director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House, "she has really established herself as a serious designer and printer, wrestling not only with the aesthetics of language, but of arranging those words in a form to reach into the minds of readers. This has taken her all the way back to the time of Gutenberg and also to the vanguard technology of the 21st century."

Sovich writes in the introduction to her portfolio: "Upon graduation, I face a new challenge: to balance my artistic nature with the demands of the professional world." She hopes to apply to Poetry M.F.A. programs next year, with plans to pursue a Ph.D in an interdisciplinary program combining English, Art and Mass Communications afterwards.

Sovich is a 2004 graduate of Towson Senior High School in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Sophie Kerr Prize is the namesake of an Eastern Shore woman who made her fortune in New York writing women's fiction during the 1930s and 1940s. In accordance with the terms of her will, one-half of the annual income from her bequest to the College is awarded each year to the graduating senior demonstrating the best potential for literary achievement. The other half funds scholarships, student publications and the purchase of books, and brings an array of visiting writers, editors and publishers to campus to read, visit classes, and discuss student work. Her gift has provided the nucleus for a thriving community of writers on the bucolic Eastern Shore campus.

Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it is the first college chartered in the new nation.

May 18, 2008

Washington College Awards Nation's Largest Undergraduate Literary Prize at 225th Commencement

22-Year-Old Senior from Drexel Hill, PA, Wins $60,027 for Critical Writing and Drama

Chestertown, MD, May 20, 2007 — Most college seniors will look back on their graduation ceremony as a day of pomp and circumstance culminating in a handshake and a diploma. For Liam Daley, 22, a Washington College English and drama major from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, the ceremony brought another reward: a check for $60,027.

Daley's critical thesis on medieval English literature, along with his portfolio of plays and short prose pieces, earned him the largest literary award in the country exclusively for undergraduates—the Sophie Kerr Prize—presented Sunday, May 20, 2007, during the College's 225th Commencement ceremonies.

The awarding of the Sophie Kerr Prize, given annually to the graduating senior who demonstrates the greatest "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor," has in recent decades been a highlight of the commencement ceremony at the 225-year-old liberal arts college. The Prize, worth $60,027 this year, is among the largest literary awards in the world.

Washington College has awarded more than one million dollars in prize money since the Sophie Kerr Prize was first given in 1968, most often to writers of poetry and fiction. Scholarly and journalistic works, though less often selected, are given equal consideration.

Daley was one of 40 to submit a portfolio for consideration this year, a relatively high number of entrants that happened to include "a very extraordinary number of top talents," said English Professor Kathryn Moncrief. It was a combination of Daley's thesis and his playwriting skills, "both the critical and the creative," that earned him departmental honors from the English department and caught the attention of the Sophie Kerr Committee. "He was a standout in a particularly strong group filled with talent and promise," Moncrief said.

English Professor Richard Gillin, who presided over the committee's deliberations, praised Daley's skills as a dramatist. "With regard to Liam's plays, the rhythms of the dialogue paralleled the emotional turmoil of the characters, and the structuring of the plays' elements and the repartee among the characters are particular strengths."

Professor Corey Olsen, Daley's thesis adviser, echoed Gillin's enthusiasm for this year's winner. "Liam's work demonstrates remarkable wit and liveliness. Both his critical essays and his dramatic writing display his intellectual intrepidity and his literary perspicacity."

Noting that the winner has expressed a desire eventually to become a professor of English, Olsen remarked, "Liam has a very bright future in academia ahead of him."

Daley, a 2003 graduate of Upper Darby High School in Pennsylvania, spent one of his college years abroad studying at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is returning there this fall for graduate school.

The Sophie Kerr Prize is the namesake of an Eastern Shore woman who made her fortune in New York writing women's fiction during the 1930s and 1940s. In accordance with the terms of her will, one-half of the annual income from her bequest to the College is awarded each year to the graduating senior demonstrating the best potential for literary achievement. The other half funds scholarships, supports student publications and the purchase of books, and brings an array of visiting writers, editors and publishers to campus to read, visit classes, and discuss student work. Her gift has provided the nucleus for an abundance of literary activity on the bucolic Eastern Shore campus.

Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it is the first college chartered in the new nation.