We are thrilled to announce that J. Matthew Gottwig's "Tether" is this year's winner in the Montana Prize in Fiction, chosen by Monica Drake. Congratulations!
J. Matthew Gottwig is a Montana native now living in Baltimore, MD with his wife and kids. He works for the University of Maryland library system and is pursuing his MFA from the University of Baltimore.
In addition to a $500 prize, Gottwig's's winning work will appear in CutBank 89, our summer 2018 issue.
Find J. Matthew Gottwig on
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jgottwig
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/jeremy.m.gottwig/
And at http://www.strangeshuttle.com/
Judge Monica Drake selected "Tether":
"...for the way it navigates a space between human connection and disconnection, between the individual and community, between love and terror. A child’s mortality holds a family together, which happens every day, but in this case the author has carried the question into the realm of the inexplicable, the supernatural or spiritual, raising questions of how we understand our world and how we live with ourselves and each other. It reaches a beautiful moment by the ending, without ever overly resolving the intangible qualities. I appreciate this story."
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Meet Monica Drake: "I have an MFA from the University of Arizona and teach at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. My debut Novel, Clown Girl, is published by the amazing indie press, Hawthorne Books, and has won an Eric Hoffer Award as well as an IPPY. It’s been translated into Italian, and recently optioned for film by the brilliant Kristen Wiig (SNL, Bridesmaids). My most recent novel, The Stud Book, is now out (Hogarth Books, April 2013) and doing great." (From monicadrake.com)
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We also send warm thanks to all the fine writers who entered this year, and a special congratulations to all our finalists:
- Michael Pearce
- Susan Lowell
- Heather Aruffo
- &
- Ashish Kaul