Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards Director Beth McCabe has what must be one of the most enviable duties in the writing world. Notifying writers that their work has won an award that includes a $30,000 prize. Here’s McCabe’s news about Stephens Point, Wisconsin, English teacher Jill Sisson Quinn:
“We are pleased to announce that Wisconsin creative nonfiction writer JILL SISSON QUINN will receive a 2013 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, which is given annually to six women writers who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their careers. Celebrating its 19th year, the Rona Jaffe Awards have helped many women build successful writing careers by offering encouragement and financial support at a critical time. The Awards are $30,000 each and will be presented to the six recipients on September 19th in New York City.
Jill Sisson Quinn received her B.A. in English from the University of Maryland, her M.A. in Environmental Studies from Montclair State University, and her M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College. She is a high school English teacher in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Her first book, Deranged: Finding a Sense of Place in the Landscape and in the Lifespan, was published by Apprentice House in 2010. She has received the John Burroughs Award for Outstanding Published Nature Essay and the Annie Dillard Award in Creative Nonfiction. Ms. Quinn is working on a new collection of essays tentatively titled The Doctrine of Signatures. Part memoir, part natural history, part scholarly research, her essays explore landscapes both internal and external. She writes, “Through the lens of evolutionary psychology this book investigates universal questions about relationships, religion, and sense of place, explaining not just why we feel certain things but how our hearts might deal with them.” Her essays have appeared in Orion, Ecotone, and OnEarth Magazine, among others. Her essay “Sign Here if You Exist” (a description of the life cycle of the giant ichneumon wasp and a meditation on why humans desire an afterlife) appeared in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011. She says, “Right now, it feels like spring to me, and I am looking for the right environment in which to let it unfold. I need, as e.e. cummings put it, time to ‘carefully move to and fro new and old things’ as I braid new discoveries into essays.” Ms. Quinn plans to use her Writer’s Award to reduce her teaching load to complete a draft of her book. She lives with her husband in Scandinavia, Wisconsin.
Celebrated novelist Rona Jaffe (1931-2005) established The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards program in 1995. It is the only national literary awards program of its kind dedicated to supporting women writers exclusively. Since the program began, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.5 million to emergent women writers, including several who have gone on to critical acclaim, such as Elif Batuman, Eula Biss, Lan Samantha Chang, Rivka Galchen, Kathleen Graber, Frances Hwang, Aryn Kyle, Rebecca Lee, ZZ Packer, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Tracy K. Smith, Mary Szybist, and Julia Whitty.
Jill Sisson Quinn is available to discuss her work and Writer’s Award. Our press release for the 2013 Awards program will tell you about the other award winners and the Foundation’s program. You may also visit our website at www.ronajaffefoundation.org. We will be in touch soon to see if a story about this talented woman writer and our Awards program will fit into your plans for the Council’s website and blog. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us if you need any additional information, photos, or would like to arrange an interview with Jill.”
Jill received an honorable mention in CWW’s 2010 Ellis/Henderson Outdoor Writing competition. Congratulations to Jill Quinn and best wishes to her as she continues her writing career. How fortunate that her English students have such a gifted teacher!
More about Jill is at http://www.jillsissonquinn.com/. More information about and for Wisconsin writers is at www.wiswriters.org.