Skip to content Skip to main navigation Skip to footer

Whirling Prize authors to speak March 23

Páramo
Páramo

Two fresh takes on coming-of-age literature have been awarded the 2015 Whirling Prize by the student staff of UIndy’s Etchings Press.

The memoir My Mother’s Funeral by Adriana Páramo and the poetry collection Sad Math by Sarah Freligh are winners of the latest contest, which invited writers across the nation to submit examples of the Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age, literary genre.

Freligh
Freligh

“We had a tough time choosing two winners out of the submissions we received,” said senior Creative Writing major Rachael Neawedde, one of the contest judges. “The discussions nearly lasted to the end of the semester.”

Each author will receive a $500 cash prize, and both will read and discuss their work at 7:30 p.m. March 23 in Room 210 of Lilly Science Hall. Admission is free to the Kellogg Writers Series event, presented by the Department of English.

Paramo bookPáramo is a cultural anthropologist, writer and women’s rights advocate. My Mother’s Funeral shifts from past to present as it explores her Colombian heritage, the concept of womanhood and relationships between mothers and daughters.

Her other books include the award-winning Looking for Esperanza, a creative nonfiction work about the lives of undocumented migrants.

Freligh bookFreligh’s Sad Math is a collection of poems about American girlhood that tells a story in three parts – a tale of loss and experience that retains the possibility of hope. Other works include A Brief Natural History of an American Girl, winner of the Editor’s Choice award from Accents Publishing, and Sort of Gone. Among her awards are a 2009 poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

UIndy’s Allen & Helen Kellogg Writers Series brings writers of distinction to campus for public readings and discussions. The 2015-2016 season continues Monday with crime fiction writer Alec Cizak and concludes April 13 with poet Adrian Matejka, whose 2013 collection The Big Smoke was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in poetry. For more information, contact series director Kevin McKelvey at (317) 788-2018 or mckelveyk@uindy.edu.