English Professor Susan Morehouse win’s third place in prestigious literary contest
Alfred University Professor of English Susan Morehouse has won third place in the annual CRAFT Literary First Chapter Contest for her novel in progress A Tremendous Thing. The novel is set in West Virginia, where the protagonist, Lena, begins to build a new life after fleeing her parents’ home in Connecticut.
The First Chapter Contest prize includes publication of the chapter in the December issue of CRAFT magazine, as well as a cash award and contact with a literary agent.
Morehouse teaches courses in creative writing and literature with a focus on women and gender studies. She worked on revisions to the first chapter of A Tremendous Thing during a one-week summer residency on the Maine coast hosted by Alfred University and the family of Sarah and Norman Keyes, parents of alumna Mary Hall Keyes ’19. She continues to work on revisions to the novel.
The title “A Tremendous Thing” is borrowed from E. B. White’s novel Charlotte’s Web. Morehouse’s summer residency included a trip to White’s grave in Belfast, Maine.
Her essays, fiction, and flash have appeared in a number of journals, including The Southern Review, Willow Springs Magazine, New Ohio Review, and Sycamore Review. She is the recipient of an NEA Fellowship, and has been nominated for Best American Essays, the Pushcart Prize, and Best Microfiction. You can find her on Instagram @susan.p.morehouse.
CRAFT was founded in 2017 as a literary magazine for fiction and expanded to include creative nonfiction in 2020. In addition to fiction and nonfiction, it now publishes critical pieces including craft essays and interviews.