University Times

Shannon Cain of Arizona is the 2011 winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize.

Cain’s manuscript, “The Necessity of Certain Behaviors,” was selected by author Alice Mattison from more than 300 entries. The book will be published this fall by the University of Pittsburgh Press, sponsor of the prize. The prize includes a $15,000 award.

“The stories in ‘The Necessity of Certain Behaviors’ chart the treacherous and often absurd territory of the illicit,” Cain explained. “My characters are destined to suffer — and sometimes enjoy — the consequences of their own restless discontent.”

Cain’s stories have been awarded the Pushcart Prize, the O. Henry Prize and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Tin House, The Colorado Review, the New England Review, American Short Fiction and Southword: New Writing From Ireland.

She has taught fiction writing at the University of Arizona, Gotham Writers’ Workshop, UCLA Extension and Arizona State University.