Council for Wisconsin Writers

Supporting Wisconsin writers from 1964 to 2022

Chloe Krug Benjamin

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CWW Contest Winners to Read at WI Book Fete

“2015 COUNCIL FOR WISCONSIN WRITERS WINNERS READING” That’s the heading of a blurb in this year’s Wisconsin Book Festival announcement. Among this year’s CWW winners were:

 Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award– Chloe Krug Benjamin,

Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award– John Hildebrand,,

Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award– Sean Bishop,

Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award– Bridget Birdsall,

Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction– Margaret Benbow,

Kay W. Levin Award for Short Nonfiction– Catherine Jagoe,

Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award– Cathryn Cofell,

Essay Award for Young Writers-  Kade Bryand

Here’s the link to the announcement:  http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/events/2015-council-wisconsin-writers-winners-reading

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Excerpt from Edna Ferber Ferber Award Winner

Council for Wisconsin Writers 2014 award winner Chloe Krug Benjamin, whose novel The Anatomy of Dreams [published by Atria/Simon & Schuster] received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award, read the excerpt below her photograph here at CWW’s May 16 Awards Banquet.

“In our third year, though, a lunar eclipse brought us together. Mr. Cooke, our physics teacher, had been talking it up all semester, and our class had permission to see it. It would be at 6:51 P.M.—dinnertime—but that night we ate outside. It was cold but not snowing: in Northern California, January brought steamy haze that lent each evening a feeling of dark eventfulness. We carried out blankets and trays and huddled at the top of Observatory Hill, where Mr. Cooke had once shown us how to chart the phases of the moon. I sat with Hannah McGowan, my roommate and best friend, who was telling me a story in a rapid, hushed voice and at one point said, “Sylvie. Sylvie . . .” but I could hardly hear her. Her voice trailed into the air like fog as we waited for the moon to change.

“Mr. Cooke had told us that a lunar eclipse could only occur when a full moon was perfectly aligned with the earth and sun. For just a few minutes, he said, our planet would cast two shadows and the moon would travel through them. Light from the sun, passing through earth’s atmosphere, would bend toward the moon, and our rock would transform: dyed by the planet’s sunrises and sunsets, the beginnings of days and the ends of them, she would turn red.

“I knew all of this, but I was still unprepared for the feeling that came over us when it happened. Slowly, earth’s shadow moved in front of the moon, covering it almost completely. But the moon fought back. Like a phoenix, she shed her ashes and caught fire. We gaped at her change in costume: she hung, a blood orange in darkness. The trees and the sky and even the hill vanished, and we had only each other.”

More about Chloe is at http://www.chloekrugbenjamin.com/#!the-anatomy-of-dreams/c156v

More about CWW, its contests and awards and award winners is at www.wiswriters.org

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CWW Announces 2014 Wisconsin Writers Award Winners

The Council for Wisconsin Writers announced today the winners and honorable mentions for this year’s Wisconsin Writers Awards.

The Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award goes to Chloe Krug Benjamin of Madison for The Anatomy of Dreams, (Atria/Simon & Schuster). There was no honorable mention this year.

John Hildebrand of Eau Claire is the winner of the Norbert Blei/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award for The Heart of Things: A Midwestern Almanac (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). Tom Pamperin of Chippewa Falls receives honorable mention for Jagular Goes Everywhere: (mis) Adventures in a $300 Sailboat (Cedar Street Press).

Sean Bishop of Madison is the winner of the Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award for his book The Night We’re Not Sleeping In (Sarabande Books). Honorable mention goes to Angela Sorby of Milwaukee for The Sleeve Waves (UW Press).

Double Exposure (Sky Pony Press) by Bridget Birdsall of Madison is winner of the Tofte/Wright Children’s Literature Award. Janet Halfmann of South Milwaukee receives honorable mention for Animal Teachers (Blue Apple Books).

Margaret Benbow of Madison is the winner of the Zona Gale Award for Short Fiction with “Joe Szabo and the Gypsy Bride,” (The Antioch Review). Liam Callanan of Milwaukee is the recipient of an honorable mention for “Exhibit A” (Commonweal).

Catherine Jagoe of Madison is the winner of the Kay W. Levin Short Nonfiction Award for her essay “A Ring of Bells” (Gettysburg Review). Patti See of Chippewa Falls receives honorable mention for her essay “Hunter’s Mother” (The WayFarer).

The Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award for five individual poems goes to Cathryn Cofell of Appleton. Honorable mention goes to DeWitt Clinton of Shorewood.

The winner of the $250 CWW Essay Award for Young Writers is Kade Byrand of Sheboygan, a sophomore at IDEAS Academy in Sheboygan for his essay “Shadow Dad.” Honorable mention goes to Erica Howe of Readstown, a junior at Viroqua Area Public School, for her essay “Narrowing it Down.”

Winners of the Wisconsin Writers Awards for work published in 2014 will each receive $500 and a week-long writing residency at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point. Honorable mentions will receive $50. Out-of-state judges made the decisions for each award.

Daniel Goldin, owner of Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee is winner of the Christopher Latham Sholes Award, which recognizes a Wisconsin resident for outstanding encouragement and support of Wisconsin writers and carries a $500 prize, was announced earlier this year.

Awards will be presented at CWW’s annual Awards Banquet, May 16, at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee.