CLARKSVILLE, Tenn (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A publication from APSU’s Zone 3 Press has received multiple accolades this year. Atlanta based author, Kelly Beard’s “An Imperfect Rapture” has garnered national attention from literary circles.
In June, Beard was a finalist in the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses’ (CLMP) 2019 Firecracker Awards. The award honors independent publications in the categories of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry.
Beard also won Georgia Author of the Year (GAYA) in the memoir category.
Critics have called the Beard’s book, “a coming-of-age story about growing up in the crucible of Christian fundamentalism and white American poverty.”
Zone 3 is a nonprofit literary press at Austin Peay State University that publishes and promotes emerging writers. Janisse Ray, author of “Ecology of a Cracker Childhood,” judged the Zone 3 Press Creative Nonfiction Book Award in 2017. She chose “An Imperfect Rapture” as the winner, and the book was published in 2018.
“I’m grateful to Janisse Ray for choosing ‘An Imperfect Rapture’ and to Zone 3 Press for doing the hard work of ushering the book into the world,” Beard said. “I think a lot of writers like me, who, for one reason or another, feel out of the mainstream, will understand the joy and relief I felt at finding talented and generous editors who supported my vision of the book.”
Zone 3 Press regularly sponsors book contests, including the Zone 3 Press First Book Award for Poetry and the Zone 3 Creative Nonfiction Book Award. Winners receive $1,000, a book publication, and an invitation to read at APSU with the contest judge. The press accepts hundreds of manuscripts each year.
To learn more about the book and Zone 3 Press, visit their website.