Newswise — RICHMOND, Va. (Aug. 25, 2011) – David Gordon has won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, which honors an outstanding debut novel published during a calendar year. His winning book, “The Serialist,” is a darkly humorous noir parody that chronicles the adventures of a pulp writer embroiled in a real-life unsavory plot.
Gordon will receive the award at the two-day First Novelist Festival at Virginia Commonwealth University, Nov. 15-16. He was one of three finalists for the prize, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The other finalists were Heidi W. Durrow for “The Girl Who Fell from the Sky” and Richard Harvell for “The Bells.”
The novel, published in March 2010 by Simon & Schuster, is narrated by Harry Bloch, who, after agreeing to write the memoirs of an infamous serial killer, finds himself an unlikely murder detective. As the plot twists, Harry’s insights as a writer simultaneously lend comedy and build suspense.
“The Serialist” has received critical acclaim. Owen Hill declared in The Los Angeles Times, “The book is funny, with a satirical edge, and unlike some literary authors who play with genre, Gordon knows how to write a potboiler.” In a starred Booklist review, Michele Leber wrote, “Seldom has a serial-killer story been as richly textured and laugh-out-loud funny as this one.”
The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award celebrates the VCU MFA in Creative Writing Program’s year-long novel workshop – the first in the nation and one of the few still in existence. The winning author receives a $5,000 cash prize. Travel expenses and lodging also are provided for the author and his or her agent and editor to attend the First Novelist Festival, a series of events that focus on the creation, publication and promotion of a debut novel. This year’s 10th anniversary program includes an opening keynote talk and panel discussion featuring NPR book critic Alan Cheuse; a celebration with previous winners; and an evening to award the First Novelist prize to this year’s winner.
Co-sponsors of the award and the two-day festival are the VCU Department of English, the VCU MFA Program in Creative Writing, the James Branch Cabell Library Associates, the VCU Friends of the Library, the VCU Libraries, the VCU Honors College and the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences.More than 100 novels were submitted for this year’s prize. A group of more than 100 readers reduced the list to 10 semifinalists and ultimately three finalists. The finalists were then considered by a panel of judges consisting of Victor Lodato, winner of the 2010 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award for “Mathilda Savitch;” Timothy Hulsey, dean of the VCU Honors College; and Marcela Valdes, books editor of The Washington Examiner and a contributing editor for Publishers Weekly. In addition to Lodato, previous winners of the award have included Deb Olin Unferth, for “Vacation;” Travis Holland, for “The Archivist's Story;” Peter Orner, for “The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo;” Karen Fisher, for “A Sudden Country;” Lorraine Adams, for “Harbor;” Michael Byers, for “Long for this World;” Isabel Zuber, for “Salt;” and Maribeth Fischer, for “The Language of Good-bye.”
The deadline for the 2012 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award is Sept. 15 for books published January through June 2011. For books published July through December 2010, the deadline is Jan. 17, 2012. For more information, visit www.firstnovelist.vcu.edu.
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About VCU and the VCU Medical Center: Virginia Commonwealth University is a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research. Located on two downtown campuses in Richmond, VCU enrolls more than 31,000 students in 211 certificate and degree programs in the arts, sciences and humanities. Sixty-nine of the programs are unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU’s 13 schools and one college. MCV Hospitals and the health sciences schools of Virginia Commonwealth University compose the VCU Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. For more, see www.vcu.edu.
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