Steven Harvey’s newest book is Folly Beach, a personal essay about easing fears of mortality and loss through creativity. He is also the author of The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, a memoir about coming to terms with the suicide of his mother published by Ovenbird Books as part of the “Judith Kitchen Select” series. In addition he has written three collections of personal essays–A Geometry of Lilies, Lost in Translation, and Bound for Shady Grove–and edited an anthology of essays written by men on middle age called In a Dark Wood.  Two of his essays have been selected for The Best American Essays Series:  “The Book of Knowledge” in 2013 and “The Other Steve Harvey” in 2018. Over the years, fourteen of his essays have been recognized as notable by that series as well, and he was twice honored as a finalist in the Associated Writing Program’s nonfiction contest. He is a professor emeritus of English and creative writing at Young Harris College, a founding faculty member in the Ashland University MFA program in creative writing, a contributing editor for River Teeth magazine, and the creator of The Humble Essayist, a website designed to promote personal prose. He lives in the north Georgia mountains.

Áine Greaney is an Irish-born author who never published anything until she emigrated from Ireland to America, alone, at age 24. Since then (1986), she has published five books. Her shorter works have been published and broadcast in the U.S., Ireland, the U.K. and Canada in publications such as Creative Nonfiction, NPR/WBUR, The Boston Globe Magazine, Numero Cinq, Salon, The Drum, New Hibernia Review, Litro Magazine, Cyphers, Books Ireland and other outlets.

Áine Greaney selected Adjustment Disorder: A Collection of Maladjusted Essays by Patrick Mondaca as the 2020 winner. Patrick will receive $1,000, publication with our fall 2019 titles including distribution with Casemate Group, and 50 author copies. We offer him our heartiest congratulations!

We also offer congratulations to the two finalists:

Cindy Skaggs of Falcon, Colorado, for her collection: Invisible Me: A Memoir in Essays
Anatoly Molotkov of Portland, Oregon, for his collection: A Broken Russia Inside Me: Essays on Place

Áine said this when she let us know about the winner/finalists: “There were some that were really breathtaking. So it was a very tough choice, with the toughest part of all being which of the final ten to shortlist down to the final three.”