I’ve known for a few weeks, but was sworn to secrecy — so I’m very pleased to finally be able to announce that STILTSVILLE won the 2011 PEN/Bingham Award for a debut work published in 2010.

Here’s some press from PEN/American, the LA Times, and the NY Observer.

I’m thrilled to share the prize with Danielle Evans, whose book BEFORE YOU SUFFOCATE YOUR OWN FOOL SELF has received ubiquitous praise. Last year, Danielle and I read (with Sam Chang and Gary Shteyngart) at the Friday Festival of Fiction at the Wisconsin Book Festival.

I’d known of Danielle and her work, of course, since we both had fellowships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and we’d both attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Winning with Danielle is like having a sister in good news — I even got congrats from her mom!

–Sd