Sherman Alexie, L.A.'s Louise Steinman to judge Story Prize

The 2011 Story Prize judges were announced Wednesday. They include writer Sherman Alexie, who won a National Book Award for his young adult novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" and whose most recent book, "War Dances," is a collection of poetry and short fiction.

Joining Alexie on the three-judge panel is Louise Steinman. An Angeleno, Steinman is the author of "The Souvenir: A Daughter Discovers Her Father's War" and is co-director of the Los Angeles Institute for Humanities at USC. She is in charge of the ALOUD speaker series at the L.A. Public Library.

The Story Prize annually awards $20,000 to a collection of short fiction and $5,000 each to two runners-up. The finalists are announced in January; the prize itself will be awarded at a ceremony in New York in March. The event includes a reading by each of the finalists -- at least it did for the 2009 awards, for which I served as a judge.

Each year there are three judges, and generally the list includes a librarian. The third judge is Breon Mitchell, director of the Lilly Library at Indiana University professor of Germanic studies and comparative literature.

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-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Sherman Alexie in Seattle. Credit: Kevin Casey / For the Times