Little ol me, Pushcart Prize nominee
NEWS | Welp! This is a surprise.
Wee Pushcart Prize logo
The very kind and wonderful folks over at Dead Housekeeping (who published my little flash memoir piece about my grandmother back in May), have nominated that wee beastie for a Pushcart Prize.
Shocking, I know.
This is not false modesty.
There is zero chance that I will actually win a Pushcart Prize.
Still, it’s such a kind honour to even be thought of as remotely worthy.
I wrote that piece, “How to decorate“, in the middle of the night, on my ancient iPod Touch, while I was trying to nurse my fussy, colicky, endlessly-difficult (but funny, beautiful, smart, and delicious, don’t get me wrong) baby.
I was staying at my sister’s house over the Christmas holidays, in December of last year, and the days had been rough.
Babies don’t love changes to their routine. We were bundled into a little den-guestroom space, with baby and me on a futon, and Nathan on the floor beside us in a sleeping bag. And the baby was waking literally every hour. She used to do that a lot. Things are better now.
Being around my family had me thinking of family, and my grandmother came to mind, and I rattled off the little piece for Dead Housekeeping, sent it, and that was that. It was something I did to take my focus off my sore nipples and aching back. Not something I laboured over, or expected to amount to anything.
I’m glad it did, though.
From the Pushcart Prize website:
“The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America.
Since 1976, hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in our annual collections. Each year most of the writers and many of the presses are new to the series. Every volume contains an index of past selections, plus lists of outstanding presses with addresses.
The Pushcart Prize has been a labor of love and independent spirits since its founding. It is one of the last surviving literary co-ops from the 60’s and 70’s. Our legacy is assured by donations to our Fellowships endowment.”