Valerie Martin, this year’s afternoon keynoter, has won a coveted Guggenheim Fellowship to complete her latest, 14th, novel THE GHOST OF THE MARY CELESTE, about a ship mysteriously abandoned in 1872. For more details on the award and her career, see the stories on the Mount Holyoke website (she is a visiting professor at the college) and in the Gazette.
Susan Stinson, who will moderate the panel Shaping the Story, was awarded the Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize from the Lambda Literary Foundation. The prize, which comes with a $5,000 stipend, was awarded at the Lambda Literary Award Ceremony in New York City in May, when many other fine writers including Edward Albee were honored. Stinson, a Northampton resident who is a freelance editor and writing coach, is the author of the novels FAT GIRL DANCES WITH ROCKS, MARTHA MOODY and VENUS OF CHALK. Her recently completed novel, set in 18th-century Northampton, is about Jonathan Edwards and his family, including the people enslaved in his household. Stinson is also Writer in Residence at Forbes Library. Her award is covered in the Republican and the Gazette.
