Prairie Schooner is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first published in 1926. It was founded by Lowry Wimberly and a small group of his students, who together formed the Wordsmith Chapter of Sigma Upsilon (a national honorary literary society).

Prairie Schooner
Fall 2010 cover
DisciplineLiterature
LanguageEnglish
Edited byKwame Dawes
Publication details
Publisher
FrequencyQuarterly
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Prairie Schoon.
Indexing
ISSN0032-6682
JSTOR00326682
Links

Although many assume it is a regional magazine, it is nationally and internationally distributed and publishes writers from all over the United States and the world.

Prairie Schooner has garnered reprints, and honorable mentions in the Pushcart Prize anthologies and various of the Best American series, including Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays, Best American Mystery Stories, and Best American Nonrequired Reading.

Editors and notable contributors

edit

Prairie Schooner's current editor (2011–present) is Jamaican/Ghanaian poet and author Kwame Dawes. From 1963 to 1980 Bernice Slote served as the editor.

Notable contributors

Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize

edit

The Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize is an American literary award presented yearly since 2003, one award for poetry and one award for fiction.[1] It is run by the literary magazine Prairie Schooner and University of Nebraska Press. Winners receive $3,000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press.[2][3] Manuscripts are accepted from all living writers, including non-US citizens, writing in English.[2]

Past Winners[4]

edit
Year Fiction Poetry
2003 K. L. Cook, Last Call Cortney Davis, Leopold's Maneuvers
2004 Brock Clarke, Carrying the Torch Rynn Williams, Adonis Garage
2005 John Keeble, Nocturnal America Kathleen Flenniken, Famous
2006 Jesse Lee Kercheval, The Alice Stories Paul Guest, Notes for My Body Double
2007 Katherine Vaz, Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories Mari L'Esperance, The Darkened Temple
2008 Anne Finger, Call Me Ahab Kara Candito, Taste of Cherry
2009 Ted Gilley, Bliss, and Other Short Stories Shane Book, Ceiling of Sticks
2010 Greg Hrbek, Destroy All Monsters James Crews, The Book of What Stays
2011 Karen Brown, Little Sinners (submitted as "Leaf House")[5] Susan Blackwell Ramsey, A Mind Like This
2012 Xhenet Aliu, Domesticated Wild Things[6] Orlando Ricardo Menes, Fetish[7]
2013 Amina Gautier, Now We Will Be Happy R. A. Villanueva, Reliquaria
2014 Bryn Chancellor, When Are You Coming Home? Jennifer Perrine, No Confession, No Mass
2015 Dustin M. Hoffman, One-Hundred Knuckled Fist Safiya Sinclair, Cannibal
2016 Venita Blackburn, Black Jesus and Other Superheroes Susan Gubernat, The Zoo at Night
2017 Sara Batkie, Better Times Luisa Muradyan, American Radiance
2018 Liz Breazeale, Extinction Events: Stories Aria Aber, Hard Damage
2019 Megan Cummins, If the Body Allows It Jihyun Yun, Some Are Always Hungry
2020 Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, What Isn’t Remembered Susan Nguyen, Dear Diaspora
2021 Karin Lin-Greenberg, Vanished Mónica Gomery, Might Kindred
2022 Gen Del Raye, Boundless Deep and Other Stores Jared Harél, Let Our Bodies Change the Subject
2023 Janelle Bassett, Thanks for This Riot[8] Lory Bedikian, Jagadakeer: Apology to the Body[8]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Book Prize Guidelines". Prairie Schooner. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b Prairie Schooner Book Prize, The Official Blog of the Western Literature Association, February 11, 2010.
  3. ^ Robert Lee Brewer (2011). 2012 Writer's Market Deluxe Edition, Writer's Digest Books, September 2, 2011. Pg.984.
  4. ^ "Book Prize Winners". Prairie Schooner. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Little Sinners". Prairie Schooner. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  6. ^ Debra Worley (July 11, 2012). "UNCW graduate wins prestigious prize for fiction writing". WECT. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  7. ^ Christian Myers (August 28, 2012). "Professor's poem collection wins book prize". The Observer. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Bedikian, Bassett win 2023 Raz-Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prizes". news.unl.edu. 2023-09-06. Retrieved 2024-05-09.

Further reading

edit
  • Stewart, Paul R., The Prairie Schooner Story: A Little Magazine's First 25 Years (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1955). OCLC 2083315 LCCN 55-8931
edit