Lori Ostlund Wins 2009 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award
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[SAN FRANCISCO, CA, JULY 2009] - The Art Institute of California - San Francisco is incredibly pleased and honored to announce that Liberal Studies faculty instructor, Lori Ostlund, will receive the 2009 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award. This prestigious award is given annually to only six women writers who have demonstrated excellence and promise in their writing careers.
Ostlund will be presented with the award at a ceremony in New York City on September 24th. Along with the honor of being a recipient of the Rona Jaffe award, Ostlund also will receive a $25,000 monetary grant that will assist her in the completion of her current novel.
Ostlund, who teaches Transitional English and Creative Writing at The Art Institute of California - San Francisco, plans to take significant time off from teaching in the next year to complete a draft of her first novel and finish her second short story collection. In addition to the Rona Jaffe Foundation Award, Ostlund was also the recipient of the 2008 Flannery O'Connor award for her collection of short stories, The Bigness of the World, which will be published this fall by the University of Georgia Press.
"To have these two incredible awards happen simultaneously is very exciting. I've been writing for over 20 years and it feels like now it's all coming together. It's an incredible feeling," said Ostlund.
Ostlund has a B.A. from Minnesota State University Moorhead and an M.A. in English from the University of New Mexico. Her stories have appeared in the New England Review, Bellingham Review, The Georgia Review, and The Kenyon Review.
"Lori's talents in writing and teaching have been of tremendous benefit to our students and faculty alike. She is well-respected and warmly regarded, and I couldn't be more pleased to see her talents recognized by such prestigious organizations," says John Stover, Academic Director for the Liberal Studies Program at The Art Institute of California - San Francisco.