Writer Deborah Eisenberg Wins PEN/Faulkner Fiction Award

17 March 2011

Deborah Eisenberg.

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson.

This week, we play R.E.M.’s new album, “Collapse Into Now,” and read a few comments about some of our recent shows.

But first, we tell about writer Deborah Eisenberg, the winner of the 2011 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction.

(MUSIC)

Deborah Eisenberg

DOUG JOHNSON: The writer Mary Lee Settle established the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction in nineteen eighty. She wanted to create a national prize that was judged by writers and was free of commercial interests.

Mary Lee Settle died in two thousand five. But the yearly award she founded continues to support American writers. Faith Lapidus tells about this year’s winner.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Short story writer Deborah Eisenberg says there is always a terrifying moment as she nears completion of a story. She told a reporter that when she is almost done she will say to herself, is this story going to work or is it going to fall apart?

She also said that after she writes the last word, she goes back later, re-reads the story and then writes a new version.

That writing process created a book that just won the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award. “The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg” includes stories from all four of the writer’s books. Judge and fellow writer Laura Furman praised Eisenberg’s writing for its sharp intelligence and inventiveness. She said the author shows an understanding of the connectedness of human beings as it exists in isolation.