Longtime Tucsonan John Spaulding is one of nine writers named winners of the annual Literary Awards Writing Contest sponsored by the Tucson Festival of Books.
The festival received 621 submissions from across the nation and a number of countries overseas, said Program Manager Meg Files. Submissions were invited in three genres: fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
The top three entrants in each category will receive prize money totaling $5,250 and free scholarships to the festival’s Masters Writing Workshop March 6-7.
Spaulding, a psychologist with Indian Health Services in Tucson for the last 20 years, is a well-known local poet. He received a second-place award for a poem titled “Some Dark Corner.”
Valentina Gnup of Oakland won first place in the poetry competition with “A Fat Encyclopedia of Astounding Mistakes.”
Jonathan Fink of Pensacola, Florida, was awarded third place with his poem, “Something Useful.” Other contest winners were:
Fiction
“Body Memory” by Kathleen Furin of Philadelphia
“Anchors Aweigh” by Anna Bergquist of Medford, Massachusetts
“Sun Damage” by Thea Chacamaty of Portland, Oregon
Nonfiction
“Sugaring: A Memoir” by Jen Parsons of Telluride, Colorado
“Proxemics” by Jonathan Gleason of Columbus, Ohio
“Malinche’s Legacy” by Marianna Marlowe of Ross, California
The 14th annual Tucson Festival of Books will be held March 4-5 at the University of Arizona.
To learn more about the Tucson Festival of Books, visit tucsonfestival ofbooks.org.
