Miriam Polli

2022 Sara Patton Fiction Stipend Recipient: Historical Fiction

Miriam Polli’s debut novel, In a Vertigo of Silence, was named one of the Best Indie Books of 2015 by Kirkus Review. Her short stories and poetry have been published in both commercial and literary magazines, and are included in two anthologies.  She received a short story award from the Italian American Writers Association for her story, “Gifts of Grief”, and an honorable mention for the World’s Greatest Short Story Competition, where there were several thousand entries. She is a winner of the 11th Annual Robert Frost Poetry Contest for her poem, “First Born”.  She is also a recipient of a Pen Syndicated Fiction Award. A native New Yorker, Miriam now lives in Virginia on a sheep farm with her husband where she is working on her second novel. Learn more at www.miriampolli.com.

Donald Antrim (Fiction Craft Lab) 

Donald Antrim is the critically acclaimed author of six books, including Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, The Hundred Brothers, The Verificationist, and The Afterlife. His most recent memoir, One Friday in April (W. W. Norton, 2021), is a searing and brave memoir that offers a new understanding of suicide as a distinct mental illness. A regular contributor to The New Yorker, Antrim has also been the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Public Library, among others. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.