Willow Springs Books is excited to announce the winner of the 2017 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, judged by Molly Giles: Dariel Suarez for his collection, A Kind of Solitude!
Dariel Suarez is a Cuban-born writer who immigrated to the United States with his family in 1997, during the island’s economic crisis known as The Special Period. He is the Head of Faculty and Curriculum at GrubStreet and one of City of Boston’s inaugural Artist Fellows. Dariel’s writing has received honors or awards from The Caribbean Writer, Glimmer Train, and Nimrod International’s Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. His prose has appeared or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, North American Review, Third Coast, and Southern Humanities Review, among others. Dariel’s first novel, THE PLAYWRIGHT’S HOUSE, set in his native Cuba, is currently on submission. He holds an MFA in fiction from Boston University and currently resides in the Boston area with his wife.
This year, Willow Springs Books had a large volume of incredible work to read through for the contest. As such, we also want to congratulate and acknowledge the finalists whose writing surprised and delighted us:
Sean Bernard, Maintaining Good Posture toward Bethlehem Julialicia Case, The Internet Loves You Ryan Ridge, Echo Park Leigh Camacho Rourks, Moon Trees and Other Orphans