Lucia Berlin

Lucia Berlin (1936-2004) was a short story writer. She didn’t get published until later in life, with some encouragement from poet Ed Dorn. Berlin was never a bestseller, but was widely influential within the literary community. She has often been compared to Raymond Carver and Richard Yates. One of her most memorable achievements was the stunning one-page story My Jockey , which captured a world, a moment and a panoramic movement in five quick paragraphs. It won the Jack London Short Prize for 1985. Berlin also won an American Book Award in 1991 for Homesick, and was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.