Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) Finalist for 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) yesterday was named a finalist for the 2014 pulitzer-150Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Shacochis was nominated for his work The Woman Who Lost Her Soul. Published by Atlantic Monthly Press, the novel spans 50 years and three continents. The book explores the murky world of American foreign policy before 9/11, using provocative themes to raise difficult moral questions.

The 2014 prize went to Donna Tartt, for her novel The Goldfinch. Pulitzer winners and finalists are announced simultaneously.

Shacochis attended the University of Missouri and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and currently teaches creative writing at Florida State University.

The Publishers Weekly starred review says of The Woman Who Lost Her Soul: “A brutal American-style John le Carré, Shacochis details how espionage not only reflects a nation’s character but can also endanger its soul. Gritty characters find themselves in grueling situations against a moral and physical landscape depicted in rich language as war-torn, resilient, angry, evil, and hopeful.”

His first short-story collection, Easy in the Islands, was published in 1985 and received the National Book Award in category First Work of Fiction. The stories are set in various Caribbean locales and reflect the author’s experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His second story collection, The Next New World, contains stories set in Florida and the islands of the Caribbean but also in Northern Virginia and the mid-Atlantic coast. In 1993, Shacochis published his first novel, Swimming in the Volcano, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Bob is also a contributing editor at Outside magazine.