E.C. Osondu Wins 2019 U.S. BOA Short Story Fiction Prize
E.C. Osondu has won the 2019 U.S. BOA Short Story Fiction Prize, for his short story “Alien Stories.”
The BOA edition was founded in 1976 by late American poet, editor, and translator A. Poulin Jr. Initiated in 2007, BOA’s American Reader Series has published more than 20 short story collections.
These collections feature voices more concerned with the artfulness of their writing than the twists and turns of plot. In 2018, the eighth BOA Short Fiction Prize was awarded to a collection of short stories “The OK End of Funny Town,” by Mark Polanzak. As with BOA Edition’s poetry, the first criterion for publishing any book will be its artistic excellence.
Award judge Peter Conners said of the winning story, “with nimble dexterity and startling originality, E.C. Osondu shifts from Africa to America to outer space, uniting us all as ‘aliens’ within a complex and interconnected universe.”
EC Osondu is the author of the short story collection “Voice of America” and the novel “This House is Not for Sale.” In addition to the BOA Short Fiction Prize, he is a winner of the 2009 Caine Prize and a 2011 Pushcart Prize winner.
