West Virginia University Master of Fine Arts student Heather Frese has been selected as a runner-up in the 3rd Annual Creative Nonfiction MFA Program-Off Essay Contest.

“The kindness, support, and thoughtful consideration of my work by professors and colleagues in my MFA program have been instrumental to my development as a writer, Frese said. “I’m thrilled and honored that my essay has found such a good home on Creative Nonfiction’s website.”

Frese’s essay, “Sombreros,” was selected from a pool of 220 submissions originating from students in more than 100 MFA programs throughout the United States and Canada.

“Sombreros” will be published online in tandem with the 2011 Summer issue of Creative Nonfiction, and Frese will receive a cash prize of $50.

Edited by Lee Gutkind, Creative Nonfiction has been devoted exclusively to publishing vividly written literary nonfiction since its first issue in 1994.

Known today as “the voice of the genre,” Creative Nonfiction is an essential resource for anyone with an artistic, professional or critical stake in the genre – or for anyone who simply enjoys true stories that are well told.

For more information, contact Mark Brazaitis at Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Rebecca Herod, Marketing and Communications Coordinator
304-293-7405, ext. 5251, Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu

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