The Story Prize Event on March 6 at The New School: Get with the Program

Come to The Story Prize event on March 6 at The New School, and you'll not only get to see and hear writers Jamel Brinkley, Deborah Eisenberg, and Lauren Groff read from and discuss their work on stage but you'll also get to take home an eight-page, full-color program (cover below) designed by artist Calli Ryan.

At the event, you'll have the opportunity to buy from bookseller McNally Jackson signed copies of each author's short story collection, as well as copies of The Story Prize 15th anniversary anthology.

General admission tickets, which cost $14, are available online or at The New School Box office the evening of the event.

The Story Prize and McNally Jackson: It's All About the Books

The Story Prize event is tomorrow night (March 5) at 7:30 p.m. at The New School's auditorium at 66 West 12th Street. The three finalists, Andrea Barrett (Archangel), Rebecca Lee (Bobcat), and George Saunders (Tenth of December) will read from and discuss their work on-stage. At the end, we'll announce the winner. We hope you can join us.

The evening aims, most of all, to be a celebration of these three authors, their incredible books, and, more broadly, short story collections. We're pleased to have one of the top independent booksellers around, McNally Jackson, selling signed copies at the event. And McNally Jackson is making it especially easy for anyone there—and those who can't be—to get copies. 

The McNally Jackson book table at last year's event
(L to R, Brett Duquette, and booksellers Anna Chen and Javier Molea)
photo © Beowulf Sheehan

• Let's say you're at the event and want to buy signed copies of the books, but you don't want to lug them around all night (or are prone to accidentally leaving things behind, like some of us are). No problem: McNally Jackson will provide free shipping for anyone who buys three or more books. You walk out empty handed (or no more burdened than you were when you arrived), and the books show up later at your house.
• Let's say a book is sold out, and you want a copy. McNally Jackson will follow up by shipping it after the event.
• Let's say you can't make the event and still would like signed copies of Archangel, Bobcat, or Tenth of December. For one month after the event, McNally Jackson will ship signed copies of the three finalists' books for free (while supplies last) when ordered from their Web site. All you need to do to get free shipping is to type into the comment box at checkout: Free Shipping-The Story Prize.

We're very pleased that McNally Jackson is the official bookseller of The Story Prize. And last year, bookseller-in-chief Sarah McNally served as one of our judges. Our ultimate aim is to get more short story collections into readers' hands, particularly those of our finalists. Hats off to our bookseller for making it easier to buy these books—and, we hope, a little harder not to.

Announcing The Story Prize Judges: Jane Ciabattari, Yiyun Li, and Sarah McNally

We're excited about this year's judges for The Story Prize: critic and writer Jane Ciabattari, award-winning author Yiyun Li, and bookseller Sarah McNally. All three have strong ties to The Story Prize. Jane Ciabattari, who recently served as president of the National Book Critics Circle, has attended the event for several years. Yiyun Li was a finalist for books published in 2010. And the bookstore that Sarah McNally established and operates—McNally Jackson Books in New York City—has sold books at The Story Prize event for the last three years. Past judges have included fiction writers Sherman Alexie, Andrea Barrett, Dan Chaon, Edwidge Danticat, David Gates, A.M. Homes, Jayne Anne Phillips, and Hannah Tinti; Booksellers Ann Chistophersen, Mitchell Kaplan, Rick Simonson, and Marie du Vuare; Librarians Nancy Pearl, Patricia Groh, and Bill Kelly; Editors John Freeman, Brigid Hughes, Daniel Menaker, and Meghan O'Rourke; critic James Wood; book bloggers Ron Hogan and Carolyn Kellogg; translator Breon Mitchell; and event curator Louise Steinman.   The judges play an important role in determining the winner of The Story Prize. They decide from among the three books that Story Prize Director Larry Dark and Julie Lindsey, the founder of the award, select from among the more than 80 books they receive as entries each year. The announcement of the finalists will come in January. The judges will then have about a month to read those selections and each vote for her top choices. The authors will appear at an event at The New School on March 13, 2013, and at the end of that, we'll announce the winner that Jane Ciabattari, Yiyun Li, and Sarah McNally have selected.

The Story Prize Event: Get Your Program

We produce a full color, eight page program for each Story Prize event, and this time, thanks to our designer—Rolling Stone Senior Art Director Steven Charny—an original illustration by Tomar Hanuka graces the cover. Hanuka was one of four artists who helped create the award winning animated film Waltz with Bashir.

To photograph the event, we've enlisted Beowulf Sheehan, who takes exceptional portraits of writers and musicians. You'll see some of the pictures from the event on this blog and on our Web site in the days that follow.

In addition, we've eliminated the intermission to keep the event moving. And we've upgraded the private reception afterward. Once again, leading independent bookseller McNally Jackson will be selling copies of the books.

Of course, we're most excited about our three finalists: Don DeLillo, Steven Millhauser, and Edith Pearlman, who will read from their work and sit down to talk with me at The New School's Tishman Auditorium on March 21 at 7:30. I imagine this will be the only opportunity to see these three great writers at one event. Tickets (general admission $14, student $10) are going fast. Those who can't make it will have to wait for the video that The New School will post a couple of weeks later.

Illustration: Tomar Hanuka