Great Lakes Novel Prize to Erika Meyers

Results of the Great Lakes Novel Prize Announced

The editors of two of Ohio’s independent presses, Bottom Dog Press and Drinian Press have announced the winner of the first Great Lakes Novel Prize. Strangers in America by Erika Meyers of Mantua, Ohio, has been selected by final judge, novelist Robert Flanagan. The award includes a $350 prize and publication of the novel.
Ms. Meyers is an English major graduate of Kent State University. She has worked in the publishing business for PPI Technical Communications of Solon, Ohio, and for Kent State University Press. She is also a poet and this is her first book
Flanagan has described the award winning novel: “Erika Meyers’ Kafkaesque fable gives us a contemporary America of disappearing prosperity, endangered jobs, and fragmented families as witnessed specifically in the city grit of Cleveland, Ohio….Free of caricature, Strangers in America is peopled with individuals rich in human complexity ....When you finish Strangers in America, the main character Helena Adamzik will still be there: tough, dead-pan funny, proud and enduring.”
Other finalists include John Albion (Beaver Dam, WI), Eric L. Terlizzi (Salem, IL), and Margo Wilson (Monessen, PA). The contest was endorsed by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association.
Robert Flanagan, the final contest judge is retired director of creative writing at Ohio Wesleyan University and the author of the novel Maggot, and short story collections: Naked to Naked Goes, and Loving Power. His book of poetry Reply to an Eviction Notice was recently published by Bottom Dog Press. He is a frequent reviewer for the Columbus Dispatch.
Strangers in America by Erika Meyers will be released this spring in the Working Lives Fiction Series by Bottom Dog Press. A series of readings and book signings is planned.