University Times

Brett Ellen Block has been named the winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, the nation's most prestigious award for a book of short stories.

Block's manuscript, "Destination Known," was chosen from more than 250 entries.

Block, born and raised in New Jersey, completed her bachelor of fine arts degree at the University of Michigan and holds postgraduate degrees from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the University of East Anglia's Writing Program in England. She resides in Los Angeles and is at work on her first novel.

C. Michael Curtis, senior editor of The Atlantic Monthly, was final judge for the contest and said Block's stories "combine the blue collar texture and bulldog perplexity we associate with Raymond Carver" with "the clipped economies of William Carlos Williams."

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize, established in 1980, carries a $10,000 cash award and publication of the winning manuscript by the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Past winners include Stewart O'Nan, Elizabeth Graver and Adria Bernardi.