2021 Everett Southwest Literary Award-Winners

March 13, 2021

The UCO Department of English is proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Everett Southwest Literary Awards. Short story writer Ashley Jeffalone won first prize for her story collection “Rekindled,” and the second prize was awarded to Sidney Thompson for “You Don’t Get to Take This Home.” The third place winner, for his manuscript, “Whims of Light Wind,” is Seth Wieck. Congratulations to all the winners!

Ashley Jeffalone’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Longleaf Review, Wordrunner eChapbooks, and elsewhere. Her stories have been nominated for Best Microfiction and the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. She works as a writer in the video game industry. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Sidney Thompson is the author of “Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves: The Bass Reeves Trilogy,” “Book One” (2020) and “Hell on the Border: The Bass Reeves Trilogy, Book Two” (2021), historical novels that narrate the life of Bass Reeves, an enslaved youth who became the greatest lawman of the American Old West. Book One was named a Finalist for the 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Historical Fiction (Pre 1900s), the 2021 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Fiction, the 2021 Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction, the 2021 Spur Award for Western Novel, and the 2021 Peacemaker Award for Best First Western Novel, and was a 2020 Arkansas Gem; Book Two is a 2021 Finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award for Western Fiction. Thompson holds a Ph.D. in American literature/African-American narratives and an M.F.A. in creative writing. Thompson’s other books include “Sideshow,” winner of the 2006 Foreword INDIE Silver Award for Short Story Collection of the Year, and “Kudzu’s Enormous New Life,” a forthcoming middle-grade novel. Thompson lives in Fort Worth, where he teaches creative writing and African-American literature at Texas Christian University.

Seth Wieck’s stories, poetry, and essays can be found in Narrative Magazine, The Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas, and the Broad River Review. He recently became the inaugural poet in the Dorothy Patterson Poetry Series hosted by West Texas A&M University. He lives in Amarillo with his wife and three children.