Simpsonistas: Tales from the Simpson Family Literary Project, Vol. 1highlights brilliant work by associates of the Simpson Project: Joyce Carol Oates, Anthony Marra, T. Geronimo Johnson, Samantha Hunt, Lori Ostlund, Martin Pousson, Ben Fountain, and many others, including Simpson Fellows as well as young writers appearing for the first time in print. Johnson and Marra were Simpson Prize Winners; Fountain, Hunt, Ostlund, and Pousson were Prize Finalists.
Simpsonistas is the inaugural anthology of the Simpson Project, which is committed to the proposition that storytelling is the foundation of a literate society: simpsonliteraryproject.org.
The Simpson Family Literary Project promotes storytellers and storytelling across the generations, and across a tremendous spectrum: from incarcerated young men and women to high school-age students to distinguished mid-career authors to internationally celebrated writers. Simpson Fellows from UC Berkeley lead workshops for fledgling writers, and the annual Simpson Prize Recipient receives an award of $50,000 in support of a burgeoning career. Joyce Carol Oates is the current Simpson Project Writer-in-Residence at the Lafayette (CA) Public Library, where she works with librarians, teachers, college and high school students, and the broader communities.
Joseph Di Priscowas born in Brooklyn and lives today in Northern California, with his wife, photographer Patti James. He's the author of the novelsSibella & Sibella,All for Now,The Alzhammer,The Confessions of Brother Eli, andSun City, prize-winning books of poems, and books about childhood and adolescence. His memoirsThe Pope of BrooklynandSubway to Californiacame out from Rare Bird Books. He is the founding chair of the Simpson Family Literary Project, which promotes literacy and literature, writers and writing across the generations.