Kirsti Sandy Wins Franklin Pierce University’s 2017 Raven Prize in Creative Nonfiction
Apr 11, 2017
Northern New England Review (NNER), published by the staff and students of Franklin
Pierce University, is pleased to announce that New Hampshire writer Kirsti Sandy is
the winner of the NNER 2017 Raven Prize in Creative Nonfiction.
Paul Hertneky, author of the acclaimed memoir RUST BELT BOY: Stories of an American
Childhood (Bauhan Publishing, 2016), was the final judge for the 2017 Raven Prize
in Creative Nonfiction. He selected the winning story because of its pitch-perfect
prose and dexterous storytelling.
“From the very first sentence until the last,” Hertneky said, “’I Have Come for What
Belongs to Me’ presents energetic, flawless prose that arrests the reader and won't
let go, tumbling through a physical and emotional road-trip weaving the past and present
with telling details, startling and revelatory facts, pitch-perfect humor, and elegant
insights conveyed through its characters' sisterly interplay, amusing, enlightening,
and ultimately haunting as only the best essays and stories can be.”
Franklin Pierce University is a home for creative nonfiction craft studies as well
as innovative creative nonfiction pedagogy for the health sciences. “Our unique dedication
to the art and craft of the creative nonfiction, including our focus on medical biographies
and illness narratives, make Franklin Pierce the ideal host for the annual Raven Prize,”
NNER editor Margot Douaihy explained. “We are honored to provide a platform for outstanding
writing and true stories imaginatively told,” Douaihy said.
A launch party and reading for NNER Volume 37 will be held on April 24 at 4:30 p.m. in the Lakeside Educational Center on the College at Rindge campus with featured writers and editorial staff in attendance.
For questions, please email Margot Douaihy at douaihym@franklinpierce.edu.
ABOUT KIRSTI SANDY: 2017 RAVEN PRIZE WINNER
Kirsti Anne Sandy is the Interim Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at Keene State
College, where she has taught creative nonfiction and memoir, and will again after
this administrative post. She lives with her husband and seven-year-old daughter in
Chesterfield, NH. Sandy’s recent work can be found in Natural Bridge, Split Lip, A
Flexible Persona, Gravel, Dirty Chai, The Boiler, Foliate Oak, and Under the Gum Tree,
among other journals, and she is seeking a publisher for her essay collection She
Lived, and the Other Girls Died. She was a student of creative nonfiction luminary
David Foster Wallace in Illinois, where she attended graduate school.
ABOUT PAUL HERTNEKY: 2017 RAVEN PRIZE JUDGE
Paul Hertneky is the author of RUST BELT BOY: Stories of an American Childhood (Bauhan
Publishing, 2016). Over a 27-year career, he has written stories, essays, and scripts
for The Boston Globe, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, NBC News, The Comedy Channel, Gourmet,
Eating Well, Traveler’s Tales, The Exquisite Corpse, National Public Radio, Public
Radio International, Adbusters, and several literary magazines and anthologies including
those published by Franklin Pierce University's Institute of Nature, Place and Culture.
He has won a Solas Award for travel writing and two James Beard Award nominations.
A graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars, he serves on the faculty of Chatham
University and lives with his wife, Robbie, in Hancock, New Hampshire.
