Penn State University English and creative writing professor Eugene Cross has won the annual $5,000 Dzanc Prize from Dzanc Books. The award supports both his creative writing and his efforts to build a series of creative workshops for refugees from Nepal, Sudan and Bhutan living in his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Dzanc Books publisher Steven Gillis had this statement: “Eugene’s writing has that perfect blend of modernism and classic storytelling, is at once humorous and sexy, intelligent and provocative, and is at the same time composed and controlled. We were also very much moved by Eugene’s service program. With all that is going on in the world, and in particular as the devastation in Haiti this past week is front page news, we found Eugene’s desire to work with refugees in the telling of their stories a wonderful and timely idea. All taken together, we at Dzanc are proud to have Eugene as our recipient of the 2010 Dzanc Prize.”
Alongside his workshops, Cross hopes to complete his short story collection, “Fires of Our Choosing.”