Grace Hamel, recipient of the 2008 AWP Intro Journal Awards:

Excerpts from Hamel's winning work:

HEAT LIGHTNING

     The rumor was that she had been burned as a child.  It was the easiest and most logical excuse for her consistent glove-wearing, even in the heat of the draught.  Eudora Walters claimed, whenever it came up in polite conversation, to remember the accident; she would delicately describe poor Lavinia's mother running with the howling child in her arms toward the doctor's office in town.  A sweet or a favorite toy had dropped accidentally into the fireplace on particularly cold evening and tiny Lavinia had reached in after it, not understanding.  Lavinia stiffened when people became overly polite about her attire, complimenting the color of her gloves or the fabric.  It chaffed her severely to know that they talked and often enough, but not enough that she changed her ways.  ...

Last Updated December 12, 2008