First Novel Prize winner receives Gold IPPY Award
Congratulations to Susan Tekulve and Hub City Press! Tekulve's novel, In the Garden of Stone, has received a Gold IPPY Award as the best novel published in the South by an independent press in 2014. The novel also won the South Carolina First Novel Prize, as judged by Josephine Humphreys.
The annual Independent Publisher Book Awards are open to publishers worldwide who publish in the English language for the North American market. Tekulve's award is Hub City Press's 13th IPPY in the past 15 years, and its fifth gold award. An award ceremony will be held May 28 in New York City.
The book is a multi-generational story of Sicilian immigrants who come to the coal mines of West Virginia in the early 20th century. Harrowing and beautifully told, In the Garden of Stone is a haunting saga of endurance and redemption.
Tekulve’s nonfiction, short stories and essays have appeared in several journals, including Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, The Georgia Review, Connecticut Review, and Shenandoah. She is the author of two story collections, My Mother’s War Stories, which received the 2004 Winnow Press fiction prize, and Savage Pilgrims, (Serving House Books, 2009). Tekulve has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and teaches writing at Converse College.
Via: Hub City Press
REMINDER: First Novel Prize submissions due March 3!
What will be on the cover of your first novel? Submit your unpublished manuscript to the 2014 South Carolina First Novel Prize and you may find out! The competition recognizes one of South Carolina’s exceptional writers by providing a book contract with Hub City Press. Eligible applicants are writers who have not published a novel. A submitted manuscript must be an original work, and self-published books are ineligible, including e-books.
Applicants’ works are reviewed anonymously by panelists who make selections based on artistic merit. Six to eight novels will be judged by nationally recognized novelist Ben Fountain (pictured right). Fountain won the National Book Critics Circle book prize in 2012 for Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. His other honors include the PEN/Hemmingway Award, a Pushcart Prize, two O. Henry Awards, two Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Awards and a Whiting Writers Award.
Hub City Press will publish at least 1,500 copies of the winning book, which will be nationally distributed. The First Novel Prize provides significant promotion, including an invitation from The Humanities CouncilSC to appear and sign books at the 2015 South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia.
The South Carolina First Novel Prize is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and the Phifer-Johnson Foundation of Spartanburg, S.C. The Humanities CouncilSC is a founding partner.
Submission deadline is March 3, 2014. Find more information and complete guidelines online.
Images, left to right: First Novel winners Through the Pale Door by Brian Ray (2008), Mercy Creek by Matt Matthews (2010), In the Garden of Stone by Susan Tekulve (2012).
Writers – enter the First Novel competition!
Submissions due by March 3, 2014.
Polish that manuscript and submit it to the 2014 South Carolina First Novel Prize! The competition recognizes one of South Carolina’s exceptional writers by providing a book contract with Hub City Press. Eligible applicants are writers who have not published a novel. A submitted manuscript must be an original work, and self-published books are ineligible, including e-books.
Applicants’ works are reviewed anonymously by panelists who make selections based on artistic merit. Six to eight novels will be judged by nationally recognized novelist Ben Fountain (pictured right). Fountain won the National Book Critics Circle book prize in 2012 for Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. His other honors include the PEN/Hemmingway Award, a Pushcart Prize, two O. Henry Awards, two Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Awards and a Whiting Writers Award.
Hub City Press will publish at least 1,500 copies of the winning book, which will be nationally distributed. The First Novel Prize provides significant promotion, including an invitation from The Humanities CouncilSC to appear and sign books at the 2015 South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia.
Susan Tekulve of Spartanburg was winner of the 2012 competition. Her book, In the Garden of Stone, was published in May 2013 and was nationally reviewed by such publications as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal.
The South Carolina First Novel Prize is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and the Phifer-Johnson Foundation of Spartanburg, S.C. The Humanities CouncilSC is a founding partner.
Submission deadline is March 3, 2014. Find more information and complete guidelines online.
First Novel winners join Humanities CouncilSC speaker’s bureau
Susan Tekulve and Matt Matthews, winners of the prestigious South Carolina First Novel Prize, have joined The Humanities CouncilSC Speakers Bureau: Humanities Out Loud program. Tekulve is the author of In the Garden of Stone, winner of the 2012 prize and a 2013 SIBA "Okra Award." Matthews is the author of Mercy Creek, the winner of the 2010 prize.
(Related: The First Novel Prize is Back! Submissions due March 3, 2014.)
"The South Carolina First Novel Prize validates the creative energy and spirit of emerging writers," said Humanities CouncilSC Executive Director Randy Akers. "The Humanities CouncilSC is proud to be able to showcase these new South Carolina authors through one of our longest-running and most beloved programs, the Speakers Bureau.”
Through this program, some of South Carolina's finest scholars travel throughout the state to share their interests and knowledge of the humanities and to spark discussions about human values, traditions and cultures.
The Humanities CouncilSC makes these programs available to nonprofit groups and public agencies at a reasonable cost. The Council provides $150 towards speaker honorariums, which covers full speaker payment for the majority of programs; any other costs are negotiated between speaker and sponsor. All programs must be free and open to a general public. Each sponsoring organization is limited to two programs per year. While The Humanities CouncilSC pays $150 towards each speaker's honorarium, the sponsoring organization must match this cost with in-kind contributions and any cash expenses the organization may incur, including travel expenses. The sponsoring organization is also responsible for making all arrangements, publicizing the event and providing final evaluations of the program.
Check out the list of speakers and topics and find out how to schedule a speaker on the The Humanities CouncilSC website.
Via: The Humanities CouncilSC
The First Novel Competition is back!
Submissions due by March 3, 2014.
The 2014 South Carolina First Novel Prize is now open for submissions! The competition recognizes one of South Carolina's exceptional writers by providing a book contract with Hub City Press. Eligible applicants are writers who have not published a novel. A submitted manuscript must be an original work, and self-published books are ineligible, including e-books.
Applicants' works are reviewed anonymously by panelists who make selections based on artistic merit. Six to eight novels will be judged by nationally recognized novelist Ben Fountain (pictured right). Fountain won the National Book Critics Circle book prize in 2012 for Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. His other honors include the PEN/Hemmingway Award, a Pushcart Prize, two O. Henry Awards, two Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Awards and a Whiting Writers Award.
Hub City Press will publish at least 1,500 copies of the winning book, which will be nationally distributed. The First Novel Prize provides significant promotion, including an invitation from The Humanities CouncilSC to appear and sign books at the 2015 South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia.
Susan Tekulve of Spartanburg was winner of the 2012 competition. Her book, In the Garden of Stone, was published in May 2013 and was nationally reviewed by such publications as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal.
The South Carolina First Novel Prize is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press and the Phifer-Johnson Foundation of Spartanburg, S.C. The Humanities CouncilSC is a founding partner.
Submission deadline is March 3, 2014. Find more information and complete guidelines online.
Interview with First Novel winner Susan Tekulve
Susan Tekulve's “In the Garden of Stone,” published by Hub City Press in Spartanburg and released officially this week, won the biennial South Carolina First Novel Competition, administered by Hub City Press and the South Carolina Arts Commission.
The novel recounts the lives of Sicilian immigrants in the mountains of Appalachia, and it is at once a departure for Tekulve and a familiar condensation of the sort of fiction she loves to write: stories about purposeful people defined by geography and circumstance.
Tekulve lives in Spartanburg and teaches writing at Converse College. On the occasion of her debut novel, The Post and Courier asked her a few questions about her writing.
Read the interview.
Via: The Post and Courier
First Novel Prize book release and author talk
Take advantage of two opportunities to celebrate the release of the 2012 South Carolina First Novel prize, In the Garden of Stone by Spartanburg author Susan Tekulve.
On April 18, Tekulve is the featured author for the Speaker @ the Center program in Columbia. The program takes place from noon to 1 p.m. at the South Carolina State Library's Center for the Book in Columbia. Bring your lunch!
On April 25, the official Hub City Press book launch takes place from 7 - 8:30 p.m. at The Showroom in Spartanburg.
Both events are free and open to the public, and books will be available for purchase and autographing. You can pre-order your copy of the book today.
In the Garden of Stone is a multi-generational tale about the nature of power and pride, love and loss, and how one impoverished family endures estrangement from their land and each other in order to unearth the rich seams of forgiveness.
Via: Hub City Press, South Carolina Center for the Book
Congratulations to Susan Tekulve and Hub City Press! Tekulve's novel, In the Garden of Stone, has received a Gold IPPY Award as the best novel published in the South by an independent press in 2014. The novel also won the South Carolina First Novel Prize, as judged by Josephine Humphreys.
The annual Independent Publisher Book Awards are open to publishers worldwide who publish in the English language for the North American market. Tekulve's award is Hub City Press's 13th IPPY in the past 15 years, and its fifth gold award. An award ceremony will be held May 28 in New York City.
The book is a multi-generational story of Sicilian immigrants who come to the coal mines of West Virginia in the early 20th century. Harrowing and beautifully told, In the Garden of Stone is a haunting saga of endurance and redemption.
Tekulve’s nonfiction, short stories and essays have appeared in several journals, including Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, The Georgia Review, Connecticut Review, and Shenandoah. She is the author of two story collections, My Mother’s War Stories, which received the 2004 Winnow Press fiction prize, and Savage Pilgrims, (Serving House Books, 2009). Tekulve has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and teaches writing at Converse College.
Via: Hub City Press
