Elizabeth Gonzalez wins 2015 Press 53 Award with ‘The Universal Physics of Escape’

Elizabeth Gonzalez has been selected as the winner of the 2015 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction. Her debut collection, The Universal Physics of Escape, was chosen from a field of 237 entries.

Press 53 publisher and founding editor Kevin Morgan Watson, who also served as the final judge, posted a statement on the Press 53 website:

Reaching this decision was a challenge. I found three very strong manuscripts that I would gladly publish, but I could only select one winner. In the end, it was Ms. Gonzalez’s variety of places, people, and subjects that won me over. She’s a master of dialogue, an artist at creating
vivid settings, and an encyclopedia of knowledge about our natural world. These stories uncover truths that makes the reading experience memorable and each story remarkable.

Gonzalez, who lives in Lancaster, PA, will receive a $1,000 advance and an expense-paid trip to Winston-Salem in October for a launch party weekend during which she will give readings from her debut collection of stories, The Universal Physics of Escape.

Other finalists were Craig Albin of West Plains, Missouri, for Hard Toward Home: Stories; Craig Buchner of Portland, Oregon, for Other Animals; Jennifer Colatosti of Lawrence, Kansas, for Wound Side Down; John Englehardt of Seattle, Washington, for Cascadia Don’t Fall Apart; John Gifford of Edmond, Oklahoma, for Freeze Warning; Jodi Paloni of Marlboro, Vermont, for They Could Live with Themselves; Sara Schaff of Oberlin, Ohio, for When I Was Young and Swam to Cuba; Sally Shivnan of Baltimore, Maryland, for Piranhas & Quicksand & Love and Other Stories; and Gerry Wilson of Jackson, Mississippi, for Mating and Other Stories.

For complete details on the 2015 and 2016 competitions, visit Press53.com.

The 2016 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction will open for submissions on September 1.