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What does it mean to be included in the O. Henry Prize Stories? How does an author refine their art? We've given the O. Henry Prize-winning authors free rein to share their thoughts on these questions and others, and the result is a rare treat. (Browse our archive of featured authors from The O. Henry Prize Stories.) | |
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Ron Rash 2010 PEN/O. Henry Award-winning Author |
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Being awarded a PEN/O. Henry Prize means so much to me because of the prestigious authors who have won the award before me, especially Flannery O'Connor, who is my favorite American short story writer. There is also another reason. I write poetry and novels as well as stories, and I find the short story form more demanding than either other genre. To write a short story others believe successful is especially satisfying.
(author photo © Mark Haskett) |
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One of the best pieces of advice I've gained from another writer is Eudora Welty's comment that writers should never condescend to their characters. In all my work, I have tried my best to follow this maxim. In my story "Into the Gorge," my hope is that certain assumptions readers might first have about Jesse are subverted, that in his flight he is revealed as a man of depth and complexity. |
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Ron Rash was born in 1953 and grew up in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. He is the author of four novels, One Foot In Eden, Saints At The River, The World Made Straight, and Serena; three collections of poems; and three collections of stories, among them Chemistry and Other Stories. Twice a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, he is a previous recipient of the PEN/O. Henry Prize as well as National Endowment for the Arts grants in poetry and fiction. He teaches at Western Carolina University. Rash lives in Clemson, South Carolina. To view Ron Rash's past PEN/O'Henry Prize author spotlight page, click here. |
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Browse our archive of featured authors from this and other editions of The O. Henry Prize Stories. |
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