Description
Edited by Susan Swartwout
Winner of the 2013 Stars and Flags Book Award Gold Medal for an Anthology/Collection
Publication: Fall 2012
The anthology Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors showcases writing from military veterans and their families from across the nation, including writing about WWI and WWII, Vietnam, the Gulf Conflict, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
The volume also sponsored a veterans’ writing competition, judged by stellar writers Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down), William Trent Pancoast (WILDCAT), and soldier-poet Brian Turner (Here, Bullet and Phantom Noise). The winners and finalists are spotlighted in the front of the book.
The anthology is the first in an annual series published by Southeast Missouri State University Press in Cooperation with the Missouri Humanities Council’s Veterans Projects and the Warriors Arts Alliance. The Missouri Humanities Council plans to expand the partnership to include additional organizations that are both concerned and supportive of American veterans.
Winners of the Warriors Anthology Writing Competition:
Nonfiction Winner: Paul Mims for “Rockhappy 1944-45
Nonfiction Finalists: Jarrod L. Taylor for “Sadr City” and Jimmy Castellanos for “Desert Snow”
Poetry Winner: Gerardo Mena for “Baring the Trees”
Poetry Finalists: Carol Alexander for “Rewind” and Bill Glose for “Desert Moon”
Fiction Winner: Monty Joynes for “First Day at An Khe”
Fiction Finalists: Edie Cottrell Kreisler for “Remembering Cu Chi” and Ryan Smithson for “Tap Shoes”
