Angie Chau

2009 Maurice Prize for Fiction

Prize Winner

The UC Davis English Department and novelist John Lescroart are pleased to announce Angie Chau the winner of the 5th annual Maurice Prize in Fiction contest.  Angie will receive the $5,000 prize for her winning entry, A Map Back to You, selected from 14 novels submitted this year. She is a 2005 graduate of the M.A. English program for creative writers. The $5,000 prize is a gift from John Lescroart in honor of his father, Maurice, for whom the contest is named.

 On October 25th, Angie will read an excerpt of her novel at the Tomales Bay Writers Workshops held at the Marconi Center in Marshall, California. A Map Back to You was selected as the best novel submitted by alumni of the creative writing program at UC Davis who haven't published a book-length manuscript. It is John Lescroart's hope to inspire the department's graduates to publish their literary work. Two previous winners have gone on to achieve that goal.

Robin Romm, author of two acclaimed books, judged this year’s contest. The New York Times Book Review proclaimed her memoir, The Mercy Papers, "a furious blaze of a book".  A collection of short stories entitled The Mother Garden, was a PEN USA finalist. Her writings have also been published in many magazines and anthologies.

This year's 2009  finalists are Lauren Velevis, (Class of 2009), Yours, and Melvin Sterne, (Class of 2003), Zara

Previous recipients of this award include:

• Melanie Thorne, 2008 winner (Class of 2006), Hand Me Down

• Elizabeth Chamberlin, 2007 winner (Class of 2006), these people, they crawl all over the place

• Shawna Ryan, 2006 winner, Locke 1928. (Class of 2001). Locke 1928 was published in 2007 by El Leon Literary Arts.

• Spring Warren, 2005 winner, The Breaks.(Class of 2002). Her first book Turpentinewas published in September 2007 by Grove Atlantic.