The English Department at the University of California, Davis, and New York Times best-selling novelist John Lescroart are pleased to announce the 12^th annual Maurice Prize in Fiction.

The winner of this year’s Maurice Prize for Fiction is Reema Rajbanshi for her novel manuscript Sugar, Smoke, Song, and she will receive a prize of $5000. 

Judge Ramona Ausubel writes, “This novel is a gorgeous thunderswirl of dance and music failure and friendship. I love how the places—India, New York, San Francisco and beyond—press out through the narrative alongside Hindu, American and family mythologies. I love the rhythms in it, the scatter and the necessity.”

Ausubel chose a runner up, as well: Leticia A. Del Toro, for Café Colima. She added that “all of the submissions had great things in them. It was a pleasure to see the range of style and interests.”  

More information about the Maurice Prize

For more information about judge Ramona Ausubel, please visit: http://ramonaausubel.com

Congratulations to Reema and all the writers who submitted their work.