Hunger Mountain Announces Winners of Katherine Paterson Prize

Press Release:
Hunger Mountain announces winners of Katherine Paterson Prize

September 28, 2009—Montpelier, VT— The winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing is Liz Cook from Roslindale, Massachusetts, the editor of Hunger Mountain announced today. Ms. Cook’s short story for young adults, “Crazy Cat” has earned her a $1,000 prize and publication in Hunger Mountain, the national arts journal published at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

“We received 300 entries—and the talent and dedication apparent in those entries was overwhelming,” says Miciah Bay Gault, managing editor of Hunger Mountain.

Katherine Paterson, the award-winning author of Bridge to Terabithia, judged the contest. Along with a first place winner, she chose three honorable mentions: Susan Hill Long from Portland, Oregon, for her middle grade novel excerpt “Tornado;” Emily Jiang from Palo Alto, California for her young adult novel excerpt “Paper Daughter;” and Tricia Springstubb from Cleveland Heights, Ohio for her story for young children “No Mistake.” Each honorable mention receives $100 and publication on Hunger Mountain online.

Gault called Liz Cook last week to let her know she’d won the much publicized Katherine Paterson Prize. “She couldn’t believe it,” says Gault. “She was so excited to think that Katherine had read—and enjoyed—her writing.”

Hunger Mountain is a print and online journal of the arts showcasing fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, writing for children, and visual art. Visit Hunger Mountain for more information about the Katherine Paterson Prize and three other writing prizes offered annually.

Vermont College of Fine Arts, which houses the editorial offices for Hunger Mountain, is the first college devoted entirely to low-residency, graduate fine arts programs, offering three MFA
degrees in Writing, Writing for Children and Young Adults, and Visual Art.


(End of press release and back to Lynn).
Congratulations to Liz Cook, Susan Hill Long, Emily Jiang, and Tricia Springstubb as well as the finalists.

Imaginary Readers,
I think you will find great inspiration at Hunger Mountain.
Find out more info about the contest here:
http://www.hungermtn.org/contest-news

and here:
http://www.hungermtn.org

Read an amazing talk by Katherine Paterson here.

Learn about VCFA (Vermont College of Fine Arts) MFA Program here.

Yes, some of you know I earned my MFA at VCFA. People often ask me if the program was worthwhile. I always answer: Yes, yes, YES!!

Read an interview with Bethany Hegedus & Kekla Magoon, co-editors of the Children and YA section of Hunger Mountain here.

Forecast: More great stories from Hunger Mountain, VCFA, Liz Cook, and the honorable mention writers and finalists!

SHIFTY Reviews on Amazon UK & the 4 Covers of SHIFTY

Hello Imaginary Readers,

There are times as an author when you wonder if anyone is reading your books (or your blog :-). So it was a fun and very nice surprise to receive a google alert pointing me to reviews of SHIFTY on Amazon UK. I'm thrilled with the UK reviews and that readers liked my characters and story. Plus is was super fun to read some of unique words and phrases used to describe SHIFTY. Please take a look.

SHIFTY will be published October 1st in the UK by Frances Lincoln.
Here are the four covers of SHIFTY:

UK cover (published by Frances Lincoln)


Australian cover (published by Allen & Unwin)



US covers (hardcover-2008) & (paperback-2010) published by Tricycle/Random House--



The US paperback version, below, comes out in March 2010.


Imaginary Readers, which cover do you like best?