heidi durrow

Heidi Durrow, bellwether prize


Heidi W. Durrow Wins Barbara Kingsolver's 2008 Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change

"We always hope for a winner that perfectly embodies the standards and hopes of this endeavor: strong writing, a compelling voice, and clear moral vision. In this year's winner we have that and much more. The story is heart-wrenching and its issues could not be more timely." -Barbara Kingsolver

"I was struck by Durrow's writing: its clarity, beauty, her authority---or, that ineffable sense that everything fits."- M.K.

"Light-skinned-ed Girl is a beautiful, sad, quiet story that is well-executed and oftentimes haunting. It's the kind of novel that has you cheering for Rachel even though she's far from perfect; readers can feel her struggles and understand why she feels downtrodden, promiscuous, and lonely. The characters are rich and lively, and their dialects (and the way Rachel comments on their dialects, i.e. the title) are real and add an element of much needed, albeit subtle, humor, and all the while there is a gripping, overarching plot that coalesces very nicely in the end." - C.L.

publications

  • "Light-skinned-ed Girl" (novel excerpt) Alaska Quarterly Review Spring/Summer 2005
  • "He Runs" (novel excerpt) The Literary Review Winter 2007
  • "Ethnic Lego Girls Carry Spears" Smokelong Quarterly Fall 2007

    • Heidi Durrow



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