Adam SchwartzPhiladelphia, PA - Philadelphia Stories, a non-profit literary magazine featuring the work of writers and artists from the Delaware Valley, has chosen a winner for its fourth annual Marguerite McGlinn National Prize for Fiction. Board members reviewed more than 400 stories for this year's contest. Nine finalists were reviewed by celebrated author and 2012 judge, Kevin McIlvoy, who chose Baltimore author Adam Schwartz’s "The Rest of the World" as the winner.
First prize includes a $2,000 cash award, an invitation to an awards dinner to be held on the campus of Rosemont College on October 12, 2012, and publication in the Fall 2012 issue of Philadelphia Stories.
McIlvoy was impressed with the quality of all nine finalists: "I've enjoyed reading and rereading the nine outstanding pieces...really quite wonderful." After careful consideration, however, McIlvoy's, chose "The Rest of the World." "[The] reader intimately experiences the vulnerable condition of the major characters,” says McIlvoy. “This unflinching story, written with remarkable sensitivity and skill, pours darkness into your heart at the very moments it pours in piercing light."
Schwartz will be honored at an awards dinner to be held at Rosemont College on Friday, October 12, 2012, followed by Philadelphia Stories' annual Push to Publish Conference on Saturday October 13, 2012. The conference will be held for the fifth year on the campus of Rosemont College, which offers an MFA in Creative Writing and an M.A. in Publishing, and has actively supported the writing community through events like Push to Publish.
McIlvoy also chose three runners up: “Finches” by Lones Seibe, “Train Stories” by Marcy Campbell, and “Igloo” by Jana Llewellyn.
The nine finalists were chosen by Philadelphia Stories Editorial Director, Carla Spataro, and included the stories, “The Girl” by Terrence Cheng, “House of Mirrors” by Corinne Partelow, ”Kaddish” by Sharon Solwitz, “Security Breach” by Nancy Mendez-Booth, and “Astronauts Anonymous” by Brad Beauregard.
"Every year it gets harder and harder to choose the top stories from all these amazing submissions," said Spataro. "We're so grateful to the McGlinn and Hansma families to be able to celebrate short story writers in this way."
Schwartz's winning story will appear in the Fall 2012 print issue of Philadelphia Stories as well as the online issue. The Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction is made possible by the generous support of the McGlinn and Hansma Families. The prize honors the memory of Marguerite McGlinn, who served as Essay Editor of Philadelphia Stories until her passing in 2008.
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact christine@philadelphiastories.org
ABOUT THE JUDGE
Kevin McIlvoyKevin McIlvoy has published four novels and, most recently, a short story collection, The Complete History of New Mexico (Graywolf Press). For twenty-seven years he was fiction editor and editor in chief of the national literary magazine, Puerto del Sol. He has taught in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program in Creative Writing since 1990 and taught as a Regents Professor of Creative Writing in the New Mexico State University MFA Program in Creative Writing from 1981 to 2008.
ABOUT THE WINNING AUTHOR
Adam Schwartz received an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1995. His stories have appeared in Arkansas Review/Kansas Quarterly, and in 1999 he won first place in the Baltimore City Paper's short story contest. In 2011, "The Rest of the World" received an Honorable Mention in New Letters’ Alexander Cappon story contest and in 2012 it won the Poets & Writers 2012 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award. For the last fourteen years, Adam has taught high school English in Baltimore City. The experiences he has with young people in the classroom sometimes find their way into his work.
ABOUT PHILADEPHIA STORIES
Philadelphia Stories is a nonprofit literary magazine, founded in 2004, that publishes literary fiction, poetry and art from the Delaware Valley and distributes it free of charge to a wide demographic throughout the region. Our mission is to develop a community of writers, artists and readers through the magazine, contests, and education programs such as Philadelphia Stories, Jr., writer’s workshops, reading series, and other affordable professional development programs for emerging writers and artists.
About Marguerite McGlinn
Marguerite McGlinn was the essay editor of Philadelphia Stories from
2004-2008. Her travel stories appeared in the New York Times, the
Sun-Sentinel, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times. She
edited The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric (Paul Dry Books, 2002). Three of her short stories won places in “Writing
Aloud,” a program of dramatic readings that matches contemporary fiction
with professional actors. She was an adjunct instructor at Saint Joseph
University in Philadelphia, and her story “The Sphinx” appeared in the
Fall 2007 issue of Philadelphia Stories and the second volume of the
Best of Philadelphia Stories (2009).
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