By Mary Barrett '14
In today’s high-tech, fast-paced world, many people are turning to short stories for a break from the daily grind. Still, publishing collections of short stories is a tall order, unless you can find a novel way to get noticed.
Siena College Assistant Professor of English Karin Lin-Greenberg, M.F.A. did just that. She submitted her collection of short stories titled Faulty Predictions for the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.
“It’s hard to sell a collection as opposed to a novel. One of the main ways to get published is through contests such as this one,” Lin-Greenberg said. “It seemed like the most viable way.”
She was right. Lin-Greenberg won the award and her collection will be published by The University of Georgia Press. It will be available next fall.
The Flannery O’Connor award, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, has become a proving ground for emerging writers like Lin-Greenberg. It gives them a national platform to showcase their work and the opportunity to have it published.
A successful storyteller, Lin-Greenberg teaches creative writing courses in Siena’s English department. She sees links between her work in the classroom and the prose she produces. Lin-Greenberg’s writing affects her teaching, but her students also impact her writing. In fact, a class assignment inspired the first story in her award-winning collection.
Lin-Greenberg assigned her students to read Anthony Doerr’s story, “For a Long Time, This Was Griselda’s Story.” Using that as an example, she asked her students to write their own pieces in the first person plural tense. “The stories that they wrote were great and inspired me to try and write my own,” she said.
Lin-Greenberg recognizes the challenges her students face when presenting their work. “Having tried these things, I understand the difficulties and the risks along with the vulnerability,” she said.
With that in mind, she works to make her classroom comfortable so her students are able to share their thoughts and writing. After all, she may be guiding a future Flannery O’Connor Award winner, and wouldn’t that make a great story?
