Luz Won Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction

I am thrilled beyond words to announce that Luz has won the 2020 Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction, sponsored by Story Circle Network. This is the award I dreamed of winning the most, but honestly didn’t expect it. To be short-listed with such excellent fellow writers was an honor. I’m hard at work on an essay to explore and explain why this particular award means so much to me. This one is special!

Writer May Sarton, memoirist, novelist, and poet, has been important to me for decades. Her Journal of Solitude gave me confidence and conviction when, as a young mother, I struggled to find time to write. Over the years, I’ve returned to my weathered, dog-eared paperback copy several times to find solace or encouragement. I’m currently immersed in another work of hers, At Seventy, as I am two years away from that milestone. And once again, it’s as if she’s speaking directly to me.

I’m floating on air and will be for a long time. What a wonderful way to finish off my first year as a published author and to celebrate Luz’s first anniversary in June.

Thank you, Story Circle Network for this amazing award, and Brooke Warner of She Writes Press for your vision that has given voice to so many women. ❤️🙏🏼🕯