Alumna Jackie Thomas-Kennedy '06 Wins 2019 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize

Alumna Jackie Thomas-Kennedy '06 won the 2019 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize for her story, Eugenie is Anointed.

The story appeared in Electric Literature on May 20, 2019 and was read during the Selected Shorts: A Celebration of James Baldwin program at Symphony Space on June 12, 2019. The prize is awarded annually by Selected Shorts and a guest author judge. Eugenie is Anointed was chosen as the winner this year by Kelly Link. Every year the winning entry receives $1,000, a 10-week writing course with Gotham Writers Workshop, and publication in Electric Literature.

Thomas-Kennedy's winning story begins, “Like every Witness kid, Eugenie knows there are a limited number of future angels: 144,000, each alerted to their status while still on Earth, in a quiet but unpredictable way.”

Thomas-Kennedy held a 2014-2016 Stegner Fellowship in fiction at Stanford University. Her stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines, and she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Fine Arts Work Center, Ucross, Saltonstall, Brush Creek, and elsewhere. Thomas-Kennedy received her MFA in fiction from Columbia University.