ZONE 3 is pleased to announce the winners of our annual nonfiction, fiction, and poetry contests: David Huddle, for his essay “Verbal Binary Presence in Early Childhood Development, that Infamously Difficult Poetic Form the Villanelle, and the Spiritual Quotidian” (Fall 2016); James Braziel, for his story “Shiner” (Spring 2016); and Erinn Batykefer, for her poem “Two Bees” (Spring 2016).

David Huddle is the author of twenty novels, short story collections, essays, and volumes of poetry, including Blacksnake at the Family Reunion (2013 PEN New England Award in poetry) and My Immaculate Assassin. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The American Scholar, Esquire, Harper’s, Shenandoah, and The Georgia Review. He teaches at the Bread Loaf School of English and the Rainier Writing Workshop.

James Braziel is the author of the novels Birmingham, 35 Miles and Snakeskin Road, which follow the consequences of an ecological disaster in the South. His essays and works of fiction have appeared in the New York Times, Appalachian Heritage, Southern Humanities Review, and other journals.  He lives in north Alabama with his wife, poet Tina Mozelle Braziel. They are in the process of building a cabin by hand and writing about their experience. 

Erinn Batykefer is a writer and a librarian. She earned her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the author of Allegheny, Monongahela (Red Hen Press) and The Artist’s Library: A Field Guide (Coffee House Press). She is co-founder and editor of The Library as Incubator Project. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Visit her online at erinn-batykefer.squarespace.com and at eb-writes.tumbler.com.

Congratulations to this year’s winners!