Danielle Evans Receives the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize
The New Literary Project is pleased to announce that Danielle Evans, the award-winning author of The Office of Historical Corrections (Riverhead Books) and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self (Penguin Random House), is the fifth recipient of the annual Joyce Carol Oates Prize of $50,000.
The New Literary Project inspires and equips writers across generations to write their hearts out.
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work…. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge—even wisdom. Like art.”
— TONI MORRISON
The Project came together in 2016 in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, English Department, the world’s foremost English Department, in the world’s leading public university, and the Lafayette Library and Learning Center.
Meet the Joyce Carol Oates 2021 Prize Winner
Join us in celebrating the fifth annual Joyce Carol Oates Prize winner on Wednesday, May 5th at 4:00pm Pacific. In this virtual gathering, co-hosted by the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation, meet Joyce Carol Oates and the winner of the $50,000 Prize, awarded by The New Literary Project to an emerged and still emerging, mid-career author of fiction. Gather with us for this spirited and intimate conversation.
Joyce Carol Oates Prize
The Joyce Carol Oates Prize recognizes annually a midcareer fiction writer who has earned a distinguished reputation and the approbation and gratitude of readers. While there are numerous prizes for emerging writers, this prize is for an already emerged author of national consequence—short stories and/or novels—at the relatively middle stage of a burgeoning career. By midcareer we mean an author who has published at least two notable books of fiction, and who has yet to receive capstone recognition such as a Pulitzer or a MacArthur. Otherwise there are no age, geographical, or stylistic restrictions. The winner receives a $50,000 award to encourage and support forthcoming work.
Writing Workshops
The New Literary Project teaches leads creative writing workshops at high schools and afterschool programs throughout the Bay Area. The majority of the teenagers in our workshops will be the first in their families to attend college.
Teacher/Writer Scholars
This project is under development.
To be updated Summer 2021.
Simpsonistas
Simpsonistas, published annually and distributed nationally, highlights fiction, poetry, essays, and conversation by many brilliant associates of the Simpson Literary Project. Authors include teenagers published for the first time alongside distinguished award-winning authors.
Our Story
The New Literary Project invests in students & teachers, readers & authors, and it inspires and equips writers across the generations to write their hearts out. NLP offers writing workshops free of charge for underserved younger writers; celebrates storytellers and storytelling through a major national award to a mid-career author of fiction (the Joyce Carol Oates Prize); and makes possible readings, events, and publication in our annual anthology of Project-connected authors, Simpsonistas.
Shakespeare & The Plague
The Simpson Literary Project offers a curated 20 minutes of Shakespeare’s words that remind us of his timeless wisdom and of the cyclical nature of human existence and social problems. The film also provides educators a student-friendly springboard for a multitude of assignments applicable to a variety of disciplines and contexts. The opportunities for critical analysis of Shakespeare’s observations, insights, and convictions abound and are even more compelling through the lens of 2021.
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