Lenore Myka (Romania 1994-96) author of forthcoming King of the Gypsies

Lenore Myka (Romania 1994-96) is the author of King of the Gypsies: Stories, winner of the 2014 G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, which will be published by BkMk Press in Fall 2015. Her fiction has also been selected as distinguished by The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Non-Required Reading series. Her award-winning work has appeared in New England Review, Iowa Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, West Branch, Colorado Review Online, Booth Journal, and Massachusetts Review, among others. She received her MFA in Fiction from Warren Wilson College. Learn more about Lenore at www.lenoremyka.com.

Lenore taught English in Romania and this book grew out of that experience. Lenore writes that the stories involve a gypsy boy victimized by Romania’s notorious state-run orphanage system flees, determined to reunite with the parents who abandoned him. A child prostitute cajoles her way into the heart of an American aid worker, risking their friendship for financial gain. The strength of a cross-cultural marriage is challenged when in-laws visit a farmer and his expatriated wife. New to the United States, a homesick translator uncovers the hypocrisies of her marriage to an American diplomat and life in the capital of the free world. A young woman, battered by the aggression and emotional detachment of her adopted son, questions her ability to be a loving mother.

She writes, “Inspired by my experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Romania and linked by recurring characters and geography, these are just some of the narratives that comprise King of the Gypsies, a collection that examines the ill-fated effects our ballooning global community has on everyday lives.”

We will be interviewing Lenore in the upcoming months about this book and her other publications, and her collection will be reviewed on the site when it is published next fall.

Congratulations, Lenore, on winning the 2014 G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction.