October 10, 2003 SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) - Gary Fincke, professor of English and director of the Writers' Institute at Susquehanna University, recently won the Flannery O'Connor Prize for fiction writing - one of the highest honors bestowed on a writer in the United States. Containing 12 stories previously published in national literary magazines such as The Seattle Review, Cimarron Review, Other Voices and Santa Monica Review, the winning entry, Sorry I Worried You, is Fincke's fourth collection of short stories. One judge said of Fincke's work, "His stories stayed with me. I found I could remember almost every one when I returned for the second read." Another judge described the manuscript as "a quiet collection, but one full of true sentiment and sharp observations." The award is Fincke's second book manuscript prize in eight months. His collection Writing Letters for the Blind won the 2003 Ohio State University Press/The Journal Poetry Prize and has just been published. His third collection of short stories, The Stone Child, was published in September by the University of Missouri Press. Kicking Ass, Fincke's nonfiction account of his son's rock-n-roll life with two signed bands, will be published by Michigan State University Press in May 2004. Sorry I Worried You competed against nearly 900 other manuscripts to win the Flannery O'Connor Prize. Since 1983, this prestigious literary prize has been awarded to only two collections of short stories per year. Other recent winners include Antonya Nelson, Nancy Zafris, Bill Roorbach and Ha Jin, who went on to win the National Book Award. Contact: Victoria Kidd 570-372-4119 #vk/0806#