{"id":273092,"date":"2017-10-06T09:23:14","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T13:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=273092"},"modified":"2019-02-13T12:33:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T17:33:33","slug":"elizabeth-poliner-receives-2017-janet-heidinger-kafka-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/elizabeth-poliner-receives-2017-janet-heidinger-kafka-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Poliner receives 2017 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"photo
Liz Poliner, winner of the 2017 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for her novel As Close to Us as Breathing<\/em>. (photo credit: Sandy Kavalier)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a young attorney at a Washington, D.C., law firm, Elizabeth Poliner<\/a> had no notion of becoming a prize-winning author. But only a few years into her practice, she realized law wasn\u2019t her passion. She enrolled in an MFA program at American University, while continuing to work as a lawyer part-time to finance her studies.<\/p>\n

Now an associate professor of creative writing at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, the poet and novelist can add \u201caward-winning\u201d to her resume.<\/p>\n

Poliner is the winner of the 2017 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize<\/a> for her novel As Close to Us as Breathing<\/a> <\/em>(Little, Brown & Co., 2016). She will be on campus on Wednesday, November 1st for the awards ceremony<\/strong> and a reading, followed by refreshments and a book signing.<\/p>\n

The prize\u2014awarded annually by the University of Rochester\u2019s Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women\u2019s Studies and the Department of English\u2014recognizes American women on the precipice of promising writing careers. It was created in 1976 to honor its namesake, a young editor who was killed in a car accident just as her career was blossoming. Previous winners include the Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Toni Morrison, for Song of Solomon<\/em>, and PEN\/Faulkner Award-winning author Ann Patchett, for Taft<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to have been selected,\u201d says Poliner.<\/p>\n

\"bookA multigenerational saga that extends beyond the confines of its small locale, As Close to Us as Breathing<\/em> chronicles the yearly summer pilgrimage of one family to their seaside cottage in Woodmont, Connecticut. It balances the melancholy in a post-World War II Jewish community with the optimistic themes of a beach novel: summer, young love, and baseball. Yet, the characters\u00a0\u00a0struggle to do what is expected of them, rather than what they desire.<\/p>\n

The prize committee consisting of University of Rochester faculty members Beth J\u00f6rgensen<\/a>, (Professor of Spanish), Katherine Mannheimer<\/a>, (Associate Professor of English), and Jason Peck<\/a> (Visiting Assistant Professor of German), calls the novel \u201cnothing short of epic.\u201d Meanwhile,\u00a0National Public R<\/em><\/a>adio<\/em> calls it \u201ca marvel of artful storytelling,\u201d and the New York Times Book Review<\/em><\/a> praises Poliner for the \u201cwarm, particularized light in which she dresses her many characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poliner\u2019s impressive cast of characters\u2014four children, three sisters, two husbands, and more\u2014presented her with a creative challenge. \u201cIt took a long time to imagine their lives fully,\u201d says Poliner, who took six years to write the book, but conceived of the idea ten years before that.<\/p>\n

Although the author doesn\u2019t play favorites\u2014\u201ceven the flawed characters are near and dear to my heart\u201d\u2014the author concedes that she most enjoyed writing Bec Syrkin, a savvy seamstress. \u201cI identified with the fact that she found her way into her work and had a knack for making things. I always admired her,\u201d says Poliner.<\/p>\n

Another challenge was the narration style. The story is relayed in the first person through adult Molly who tells the story in\u00a0 hindsight, often looking back on the summer of 1948 when she was twelve years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took some time and a little bit of technical practice,\u201d Poliner admits, who teaches MFA students.<\/p>\n

The setting of Woodmont, Connecticut, was the site of Poliner\u2019s own childhood summers, two weeks each year, at her grandmother\u2019s cottage. But that\u2019s where the similarities end.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people want to know if I\u2019ve written about my life\u2014who\u2019s who, what character stems from what person in my life\u2014but it\u2019s really largely imagined,\u201d says Poliner. She muses that some readers may question the integrity of fiction because they have lost sight of the power of imagination.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, literature is where we learn about humanity, she adds, and how to think critically about it. \u201cReading literature is a wonderful way to broaden oneself by experiencing a new world presented in a book,\u201d says Poliner.<\/p>\n

The Kafka Prize ceremony, reading, book-signing, and reception will take place on Wednesday, November 1st<\/strong> at 6:00 p.m. in the Hawkins-Carlson Room of the Rush Rhees Library. The event is free and open to the public.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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