Local author receives national recognition for PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award

Press Release

From Jasmine-Beach Ferrara Publications:

ASHEVILLE, NC— Last week local North Carolinian author Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara’s first short story collection Damn Love (2013) received national recognition as an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for Debut Fiction. She has also been nominated as a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in General Fiction. Beach-Ferrara was raised in Chapel Hill and currently lives in Asheville. Damn Love includes short stories situated in N.C.

Beach-Ferrara was a NEA Literature fellow in 2010 and received her MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. Just as her literary work focuses on LGBT lives, she also works as the Executive Director for the Campaign for Southern Equality, a non-profit organization that advocates for LGBT rights throughout the South. Beach-Ferrara is a minister in the United Church of Christ. Raised in Chapel Hill, N.C., she currently lives with her wife, Meghann Burke, in Asheville, N.C.

Published by Ig Publishing in June 2013, Damn Love is a collection of short stories set in North Carolina and San Francisco that focuses on the complexities of love. These stories emerge from the fault lines of American life, uncertain territory where identity, risk, and desire comingle, and where reconciliation can be found in even the most flawed efforts to connect. Stories from this collection have previously been published in American Short Fiction, The Harvard Review, and Crazyhorse. Kirkus Review notes: “Whether she’s writing about gay or straight relationships, the dynamics of family ties or friendships, Beach-Ferrara’s exploration of the numerous types of love are spot-on in her debut short story collection.”

The PEN/Hemingway is a prestigious award given to an author who has not published a work of fiction before. This competitive award is funded and administered by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, and the award ceremony is on Apr. 6. Along with the PEN/Hemingway award, Beach-Ferrara has also been announced as a Lambda Literary Award finalist for General Fiction. These awards celebrate LGBT writing with winners announced on June 2.

Beach-Ferrara is available for interviews, reviews, and appearances. Please contact jbfpublications@gmail.com or visit www.jbeachferrara.com.

Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara is an author, minister in the United Church of Christ, and Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, which promotes LGBT equality across the South.

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About Hayley Benton
Current freelance journalist and artist. Former culture/entertainment reporter at the Asheville Citizen-Times and former news reporter at Mountain Xpress. Also a coffee drinker, bad photographer, teller of stupid jokes and maker-upper of words. I can be reached at hayleyebenton [at] gmail.com. Follow me @HayleyTweeet

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