The annual Hub City/Emrys Creative Writing Prize has been awarded to Darlene Cah. The contest, sponsored by the Hub City Writers Project and the Emrys Foundation, is open to adults in Greenville and Spartanburg counties (and beginning this year, Polk County as well).
Darlene Cah won the fiction contest for her story, “Jesus in the Window.” Of her work the judge said, “The author of ‘Jesus in the Window’ builds a vivid and living world detail by closely observed detail and word by precisely chosen word. We come to know not only a family but a community with a distinct culture and universal dreams. This story deserves to be read and enjoyed and remembered.”
Darlene Cah used to improvise on stage in New York. Now she improvises with words in North Carolina. Her stories have appeared in various journals including Smokelong Quarterly, Referential Magazine, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Red Earth Review. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte.
The runner up this year, also in fiction, was Nancy Pemberton for her story “Horse Hunting.” Pemberton is a native of West Virginia, where she entered her Masters in Literature. She is currently an adjunct instructor at Isothermal Community College.
The winner of the Hub City/Emrys Upstate Writing Prize receives a full scholarship to Hub City’s Writing in Place Conference, held annually at Wofford College. The judge in the fiction contest was author Thomas McConnell of Spartanburg, author of the novel “The Wooden King,” forthcoming in May from Hub City Press.
The Hub City Writers Project is a non-profit organization in Spartanburg dedicated to cultivating readers and nurturing writers through its independent small press, community bookstore, and diverse literary programming that serves our community and beyond. The Emrys Foundation, based in Greenville, nurtures creativity among emerging and established writers.
(Written by Hub City Writers Project.)