First Novelist

Virginia Commonwealth University's First Novelist Award honors the best debut novel published during a calendar year. For the calendar year of 2006, Virginia Commonwealth University received more than 100 novels from presses large and small. The selection of the winner is a months-long process that involves over one hundred readers from VCU and the community of Richmond, VA. They narrowed the books to a list of finalists and semifinalists, which were announced in May 2007.

Traditionally, the award names three finalists, but this year there were four books so closely matched that the First Novelist Committee could not discern between them. VCU's independent panel of judges agreed to read all four titles, and thereafter picked Peter Orner's novel "The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo" as the winner.

This year's judges were Karen Fisher, 2006 VCU First Novelist Award winner and author of "A Sudden Country"; David L. Robbins, author of "The Assassins Gallery" and "War of the Rats", among many others; and Ward Tefft.

The award ceremony

As winner, Mr. Orner will attend the annual First Novelist Ceremony at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he will receive a cash prize as well as travel expenses and lodging accommodations. The ceremony is designed to highlight the journey of a new writer from idea to publication with specific focus on those elements that make the winner unique. Typically, the itinerary includes a luncheon, a visit with a graduate fiction workshop, a public reading followed by a Q&A session, and other social events that draw together MFA and undergraduate students, Richmond's literary community and the public.

The sixth annual VCU First Novelist award ceremony with Peter Orner, winner and author of "The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo" will take place Friday, November 16th, 2007, at the Richmond Salons.

History

The VCU First Novelist Award was created by Laura Browder, playwright and author ("Her Best Shot", "Slippery Characters", "Rousing the Nation"), and Tom De Haven, VCU professor and novelist ("It's Superman!", "Funny Papers", "Derby Dugan's Depression Funnies"). The award is presented annually on behalf of VCU's MFA in Creative Writing Program.

Created to recognize a rising new talent in the literary world who has successfully published a first novel, nominations are solicited from MFA programs nationwide as well as from publishers, editors, agents, and writers. A panel of readers narrows the field to ten or twelve promising new works of fiction. From that short list, readers select three finalists, and from these finalists three prominent judges choose the recipient of the award.

External links

[http://www.firstnovelist.vcu.edu First Novelist Award]