Author's premiere novel wins Kafka Prize

Mones

Author Nicole Mones will come to the University in April to read from her work and accept the prize, which is awarded annually by the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies and the Department of English.

Her winning novel, Lost in Translation, has received kudos for succeeding on many levels: as a character study, as a look at a changing society, as an examination of cultural differences, as an adventure story, and as a romance. The book also has been translated into several languages.

The main character, Alice Mannegan, is an American woman living and working as a freelance interpreter in Beijing. Thwarted in romance by a domineering father, she often picks up Chinese men for one-night stands, as if to defy her father's racist beliefs. Alice's life begins to change when she's tapped for an expedition to try to locate the remains of the Peking Man, first discovered in the 1920s but missing since World War II. In Lin Shiyang, one of the Chinese researchers, Alice begins to find strength, redemption, and true love.

"The author skillfully wove together a compelling story about a scientific expedition in a foreign land and a story of a woman's quest for love and self-knowledge," said Janet Catherine Berlo, the Susan B. Anthony Professor of Gender and Women's Studies, and chair of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize award committee. "The gaps between people of different cultures, different historical eras, and, of course, the gaps between male and female were all beautifully articulated in this engrossing novel."

The Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize is awarded yearly for an outstanding book-length work of prose fiction by an American woman. It was established in 1976 in memory of Janet Kafka, a young editor killed in an automobile accident that ended a career many believed would have furthered the causes of women and literature.

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