Athena E. Copenhaver wins 2019 Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature
April 7, 2020
Ashland Creek Press is pleased to announce that Athena E. Copenhaver has won the 2019 Siskiyou Prize for her novel Deep Shade.
Judge Carol J. Adams writes: “Awareness of ecocide, environmental devastation, and animal suffering might not seem the likely content for a madcap adventure. That was before Deep Shade. After the novel’s end, the hero lingers in my consciousness, a provocative and delightful presence wiggling her finger at me: ‘See, this is what it feels like.’”
Athena will receive a two-week residency at The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology and a $1,000 cash prize from Ashland Creek Press.
The prize finalists are the novels Her Name Was Friday by Nadja Lubiw-Hazard and Quiet Man by Angela Kaufman, and the semi-finalists are the novels Waiting for the Night Song by Julie Dalton and Amanda the Teen Activist by Catherine Kelaher, as well as Morality and the Environmental Crisis by Roger Gottlieb.
The Siskiyou Prize is named for the Klamath-Siskiyou region of northern California and southern Oregon, one of the most diverse eco-regions in the world. The award is open to full-length published and unpublished books, including novels, memoirs, short story collections, and essay collections.