A 2012 graduate of Shepherd University has been awarded the first place prize of $500 in this year’s West Virginia Fiction Competition.
Paul Kessler received the award on Thursday evening presented by Frank X. Walker, the 2013 Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence in the Erma Ora Byrd Center. The West Virginia Fiction Competition acts in conjunction with the Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence program. The AHWIR and a committee of readers select the winners each year.
Kessler, a native of Charleston, W.Va, came to Shepherdstown six years ago to attend Shepherd University and decided to stay. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a focus in creative writing and a minor in Appalachian studies.
In an interview with The Picket, Kessler said he was very surprised when told his short story, “The Mountains of a Quiet Earth,” placed first. “My first thought was that it was an elaborate attempt to humiliate me. I’m always very doubtful in everything I write. Luckily, a lot of people I love have spoken highly of it [the story] and have made me feel proud of the award.”
In 2011, Kessler won second place in that year’s WV Fiction Competition and said he had not “written much in [that] medium” since that time. “I write constantly, but it is usually geared toward songs,” he said. “I am trying to write my first novel. I think about it every day but can’t quite force myself to be disciplined enough to make progress.”
Diana Everhart, a senior English major, had the opportunity to hear Kessler read his story and found it to be “an amazing story.” It was filled with “great details and imagery,” she said.
Dr. Carrie Messenger, assistant professor of English, taught Kessler in one of her creative writing classes. Of his work she said, “When I first read Paul’s fiction, it blew me away. He’s funny and lyrical and tragic at the same time.”
One of the requirements for those submitting to the WV Fiction Competition is to either be a W.Va. resident or a student at a university in the state.
Kessler, who has lived his entire life in W.Va., does not believe his stories have to be read with any particular geographic area in mind. “I don’t tend to focus so much on region. Everything I write can happen somewhere else and the heart of the story would ultimately be the same.”