VCU Cabell First Novelist Festival will be held today at 6:30pm in the Richmond Salons at the VCU Commons and hear Deb Olin Unferth read from her winning novel Vacation. Following the reading, Unferth will take part in panel discussion with her agent, David McCormick, and her editor from McSweeney's, Eli Horowitz. The three of them will trace the history of her novel from conception to publication. The event is free and open to the public, and a book-signing and reception will follow. Earlier that afternoon, we will have a 2pm Q&A with Unferth in the Cabell Room on the 4th floor of VCU Cabell Library. We look forward to seeing you at these events!
Recently in Cabell First Novelist Award Category
The 2009-2010 VCU Visiting Writer Series has been set. This year's line-up of visiting writers includes Colson Whitehead, Thomas Lux, Deb Olin Unferth (winner of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award), Mary Gaitskill, Katie Ford (winner of the Levis Reading Prize), Linda Bierds, Fanny Howe, and our Visiting Writer-in-Residence, Rosellen Brown.
Deb Olin Unferth has won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, which honors the best debut novel published in 2008. Her winning book is Vacation, a tale of a contemporary businessman whose life takes a mysterious, heartbreaking turn. Unferth will receive the award at the First Novelist Festival at Virginia Commonwealth University on November 6. Unferth was one of three finalists for the prize, which is now in its eighth year. The other finalists were David Mura, for Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire, and Jesmyn Ward, for Where the Line Bleeds.
More than 80 novels were submitted for consideration for this year’s prize. A group of more than 100 readers reduced the list to finalists and semifinalists. The finalists were then considered by a panel of judges that included Travis Holland, winner of the 2008 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award for The Archivist’s Story; Peter Orner, winner of the 2007 Award for The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo; and Andrew Blossom, editor of Makeout Creek and the forthcoming anthology Richmond Noir.
The First Novelist Selection Committee announces the appointment of MFA student Dale Smith to the Cabell Fellowship for the 2009-2010 academic year. Funded by the Cabell Associates of VCU's University Libraries--and named after the famed Richmond author James Branch Cabell--the Cabell Fellowship provides year-long assistance in the administration of the Cabell First Novelist Award.
