Press release
For Immediate Release
Contact: JoAnn F. Cox
Awards Administrator
admin@shirleyjacksonawards.org
Celebrating Shirley Jackson on
Shirley Jackson Day, June 26, 2017
On Monday, June 26, at 7 PM, the Left Bank in North Bennington, in partnership with Blue Rider Events, The Bennington Bookshop, and the John G. McCullough Free Library will hold its annual celebration of the career of Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) with readings of her work.
Jackson was a prolific author who lived in North Bennington, Vermont. Her several novels include We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House. She also wrote two popular memoirs, four books for children, and hundreds of short stories. Jackson, who favored themes of mystery, psychology, and suspense, is best known for “The Lottery,” one of the most widely read tales in modern fiction. June 27 is the “Lottery Day” of the original story. Its publication date in The New Yorker was on June 26, 1948.
2016 was a banner year for the Shirley Jackson revival. It was the hundredth anniversary of the author’s birth. A new collection of unpublished and uncollected works, Let Me Tell You, edited by two of her children, arrived in paperback in June – all of Jackson’s books are currently in print. In addition, a major new biography, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, by literary scholar Ruth Franklin appeared in September and went on to win the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography and the 2017 Plutarch Award. (The author was the featured speaker at Shirley Jackson Day, 2015.) A graphic novel version of “The Lottery,” beautifully illustrated by Jackson’s grandson Miles Hyman, came out in early October. A ballet, also based on “The Lottery,” continued to tour the country, and other film, stage, and television projects are in production.
This year, Shirley Jackson Day will feature a reading by her daughter, J. S. Holly, and four readers connected with the Shirley Jackson Awards:
Michael Thomas Ford is the author of numerous books for both adult and young readers. His work for adults – which includes the novels Last Summer, Looking for It, Full Circle, Changing Tides, What We Remember, and The Road Home – has been recognized with 5 Lambda Literary Awards and the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize. His work for young readers includes the novels Suicide Notes and Z. He was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for his middle-grade novel The Dollhouse that Time Forgot. His most recent novel is Lily, which in addition to being a nominee for the 2016 Shirley Jackson Awards is also a Lambda Literary Award finalist and was named a Tiptree Award long list title. His folk horror novel Crookback John is forthcoming. He lives in rural Maryland.
Karen Heuler’s stories have appeared in over 100 literary and speculative magazines and anthologies, from Alaska Quarterly Review to Clarkesworld to Weird Tales, as well as a number of Best Of anthologies. She has received an O. Henry award, been a finalist for the Iowa short fiction award, the Bellwether award and a nominee for the 2008 and 2016 Shirley Jackson Award for short fiction. She has published four novels and three collections, and this summer Aqueduct Press will publish In Search of Lost Time, a novella about a woman who can steal time.
Paul Park is the author of a dozen novels in a variety of genres: science fiction, fantasy, historical, metafictional. His books include Sugar Rain, Celestis, A Princess of Roumania, and All Those Vanished Engines. His second story collection came out last year from PS Publishing, and it includes The Statue in the Garden, which was nominated for the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award for short fiction. He teaches literature and writing at Williams College.
Chandler Klang Smith is a graduate of Bennington College and the creative writing MFA program at Columbia University. Her first novel, Goldenland Past Dark, was published by ChiZine Publications in 2013, and her second novel, The Sky Is Yours, is forthcoming from Hogarth/Crown January 2018. She is a juror for the 2016 Shirley Jackson Awards.
About the Shirley Jackson Awards
In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, the Shirley Jackson Awards have been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics, with input from a Board of Advisors. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Story, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.
The 2016 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented at Readercon 28, the conference on imaginative literature, on Sunday, July 16, 2017.
Website: ShirleyJacksonAwards.org
Website: Readercon.org
About The Left Bank
The Left Bank, which houses a variety of community programs, occupies the former Merchants Bank building at #1 Bank Street, North Bennington, VT. For further information contact the Left Bank at: leftbanknorthb@gmail.com or by phone: 802-681-7161, or Blue Rider Events at: tfels@comcast.net.
Website: leftbankllc.org
Artifacts on display at the McCullough Library
On the evening of the reading, the McCullough Library in North Bennington will be open from 5-7 PM showing a selection from its collection of Shirley Jackson artifacts.
Shirley Jackson Day calendar listing
Shirley Jackson Day
An hour’s reading from the work of Shirley Jackson
Monday, June 26, 7 PM
The Left Bank
5 Bank St.
North Bennington VT
(Rt 67A, corner of Bank and Main Streets)
802-681-7161
The event is free, though donations are welcome.
For further information see the Calendar at www.vermontartscouncil.org
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Media representatives who are seeking further information or interviews should contact JoAnn F. Cox or Blue Rider Events.