Caitlin Hamilton Summieâs short story collection, âTo Lay to Rest Our Ghosts,â has won the fourth annual Phillip H. McMath Post Publication book award, according to the Arkansas Writers Workshop, which is housed at the University of Central Arkansas.
The McMath Award was founded in 2016 to promote recently published books and to honor central Arkansas author and literary advocate Phillip H. McMath, who selected the overall winner from the seven finalists chosen by students in the Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop.
âCaitlin Hamilton Summie writes with that sublime sense of âplaceâ that is particular and universal, bounded and boundless, known and somewhat new, that great writers have,” McMath said. “Whether it is big city, rural or small town, she reveals the same two things wrapped in a slightly different but always poignant package, mutability and the loss of love, and, as she touches one, she resonates the other. Caitlin Summie has a very special gift, indeed. Marvelous!â
Summie, who earned an MFA with Distinction from Colorado State University, will receive the award Feb. 26 as part of UCA’s Arkatext Literary Festival, which will run Feb. 25 through March 1. As part of the award, she will give a public reading at BTĚěĚĂDowntown on Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. She also will discuss her craft with BTĚěĚĂstudents earlier that day.
Other finalists for the 2019 award were:
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âActivAmericaâ by Meagan Cass
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âHeating & Coolingâ by Beth Ann Fennelly
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âTremulous Hingeâ by Adam Giannelli
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âCities of Menâ by William Jensen
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âLight Into Bodiesâ by Nancy Chen Long
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âRemember to Forget Meâ by Kerry Beth Neville
Entries are now being accepted for the fifth annual Phillip McMath Post Publication book award. In 2019, two awards are being offered, one for prose and one for poetry. For more information, see the Phillip McMath Post Publication book award .
The Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop is a writing-intensive study program in creative writing that uniquely prepares graduates for careers as writers and in writing pedagogy and publishing.
The BTĚěĚĂCollege of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Music, and Film, Theatre and Creative Writing, as well as the School of Communication. The collegeâs primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit or call (501) 450-3293.
For more information, contact Vanderslice at (501) 450-3340 or stephv@uca.edu.
