Anchorage-based writer and APU Associate Professor Rosanne Pagano has been awarded an honorable mention in a competition sponsored by the 16th International Conference on the Short Story in English. A faculty member in the writing program since 2005, Pagano was chosen for her story, “Many Men Go Fishing All Their Lives,” the tale of a date gone wrong.
“My students know I love entering contests,” Pagano said. “It’s especially gratifying to have been selected by this conference and find a place among entries from all over the world.” The results of the contest were announced on Sept. 21.
“Many Men” tells a braided story of three people who manage to misunderstand each other in ways the reader sees coming but the protagonists don’t. “I think that sums up a lot of the way life is,” Pagano said.
A veteran journalist, editor, and writing coach, Pagano is a Pushcart-prize nominated short story writer whose work has appeared in the quarterly Alaska Women Speak. She has placed first in writing contests sponsored by Authors on Eighth and Accenti Magazine, both supported by the Writers Guild of Canada. Pagano submitted her writing in response to a call for entries for inclusion in “Counter Cartographies,” an exhibit mounted in 2022 by the Anchorage Museum.
The 16th International Conference on the Short Story in English will take place from Jun. 20th to Jun. 24th 2023, at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, with the theme “Diversity of Voices: A Global Storytelling History.” The conference will focus on the craft of writing both short stories and creative non-fiction in its various forms and designs, as well as its accompanying criticism and scholarship. Special panels include teaching creative writing in schools and tertiary institutions, children’s literature, young adult fiction, and translated works into English from Singapore’s other official languages of Tamil, Malay, and Mandarin.
