Local author wins 1st, 2nd in literary competition

the vindicator

CLEVELAND — Kelly Bancroft of Youngstown has won both the first- and second-place awards for nonfiction in the first MUSE Literary Competition, which was held in December by Cleveland’s Literary Center (The LIT). MUSE is the quarterly journal of The LIT, a literary organization which, since its founding in 1972, has promoted writers and their work throughout northern Ohio.

Bancroft’s “Singer Sewing Machine No. 66 [With Attachments, For Family Use]” won first place, while her “Crazy Horses” took second.

Bancroft is the coordinator of SMARTS, an arts education program for pupils in Youngstown. She has received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Award and two writing residencies at Ragdale. Her poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in XConnect, Cortland Review, Literal Latte, Salt Water Review, Whiskey Island and JMW, among others. She is pursuing her master’s degree in creative writing. She is also a singer for the folk band Brady’s Leap.

University of Akron professor Thomas Dukes also placed both first and second in the poetry category for his entries, “A Woman Bathes in the Ohio River” and “Stealing Lumber on a Sunday Afternoon.” Cleveland-area writer Giao “G” Buu was named first-place winner in the fiction category for his work, “Cleveland Love Song,” with Amy Thacker as runner-up for “Yossarian Gives In.”

The winners were selected from 200-plus entries by a panel of MUSE judges who read all of the selections then forwarded a list of semifinalists to category judges, who determined a winner and runner-up.

Serving as category judges were Youngstown author and Youngstown State University professor Christopher Barzak in fiction, humor writer David Giffels of Akron in nonfiction, and New York author Honor Moore in poetry. Barzak is the author of “One for Sorrow” and “The Love We Share Without Knowing.”

The winning entries will be published in the February issue of MUSE, which will be available at the end of this month. Each winner also received a $500 cash prize.

For more information, go to www.the-lit.org.