Literary prizewinners to speak at UIndy

Two fresh takes on coming-of-age literature have been awarded the 2015 Whirling Prize by the student staff of the Etchings Press at the University of Indianapolis.

The memoir My Mother’s Funeral by Adriana Páramo and the poetry collection Sad Math by Sarah Freligh are winners of the latest contest, which invited writers across the nation to submit examples of the Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age, literary genre. Each author will receive a $500 cash prize, and both will read from their work at 7:30 p.m. March 23 in Room 210 of UIndy’s Lilly Science Hall

Admission is free to the Kellogg Writers Series event, presented by the Department of English.

Páramo is a cultural anthropologist, writer and women’s rights advocate. My Mother’s Funeral shifts from past to present as it explores her Colombian heritage, the concept of womanhood and relationships between mothers and daughters. Her other books include the award-winning Looking for Esperanza, a creative nonfiction work about the lives of undocumented migrants.

Freligh’s Sad Math is a collection of poems about American girlhood that tells a story in three parts – a tale of loss and experience that retains the possibility of hope. Other works include A Brief Natural History of an American Girl, winner of the Editor’s Choice award from Accents Publishing, and Sort of Gone. Among her awards are a 2009 poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.