Just a few days ago, Miranda July won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award for her debut collection, No One Belongs Here More Than You. Now, Vancouver Voice columnist DK Holm is second-guessing July’s selection, arguing that “the current darling of the Eastern cultural elites” may have gotten the prize because Rick Moody was on the jury.
It’s a well-established element of the July legend that Moody encouraged her efforts at fiction; hell, the Village Voice profile Holm quotes as evidence of July’s iconic status among the Yankee bluebloods includes laudatory remarks to the reporter from him. (“She just does what she does, and as a result she’s a complete original.”) And then there’s the fact that earlier this year July starred in a Moody-scripted audio drama. And, much as I’d like to consider myself the GalleyCat regime that Moody doesn’t need to resent, you gotta admit: It all looks kinda hinky, no matter how good the stories are.