Announcing the Prize and Award Event
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| Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto |
Adrian Dorris is the 2014 winner of the Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto Short Fiction Prize for outstanding short fiction. His story, “Of Rivers and Caves,” published in this issue, v12n2, was selected by the editors from fiction submitted to Blackbird over the previous two-year period. The story exhibits the highly effective characterization and taut plot lines characteristic of his intensely involving and moving stories, of which we have published several (“Dumb Noise” in v10n1 and “1-800-BUTTERBOLLY” in v8n2).
Dorris will receive the award at Virginia Commonwealth University on March 20, 2014, and give a joint reading with fiction writer Richard Bausch, himself an acknowledged master of the short story form. Documentation of the event will appear in a future issue of Blackbird.
The Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto Short Fiction Prize is sponsored by the family of Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto in her memory to honor her devotion to the art of writing fiction, to expand the audience for outstanding short stories, and to encourage literary excellence among writers early in their careers.
Currently, the prize of $2,000 is offered every other year for the best work of short fiction published by Blackbird during that period, with a particular emphasis on work by an emerging or underappreciated writer.
No application form or fee is required; all short fiction submitted to the journal is eligible.
Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto was born September 21, 1945 in Richmond, Virginia. She died in October of 2007 after being struck in a pedestrian crosswalk in Carmel by the Sea, California. Her sustained interest in writing led to her fiction being published in a number of literary journals as well as winning several competitions, including the 1996 and 2000 Short Fiction contests sponsored by Richmond Magazine. She was a graduate of St. Gertrude’s High School in Richmond and of Virginia Commonwealth University (class of 1967), and in 1971 she received an MA in English from the University of Michigan.
The first winner of the Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto Short Fiction Prize was Kelly Cherry for her story, “On Familiar Terms.” The inaugural celebration was held on March 28, 2012 and featured a joint reading with fiction writer Ron Carlson.
While funding for the prize itself comes from an endowment established at VCU by her husband, David Tarumoto, the Department of English welcomes contributions in support of the celebration event as well as the outreach activities of the Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto Prize, which will include visits by the winning writers with high school and elementary students at Richmond area schools. Anyone wishing to make a donation is invited to visit the secure online contributions page, select 'other' and paste “Rebecca Mitchell Tarumoto Short Fiction Prize” into the drop down box: http://givenow.vcu.edu/RMTarumoto 