Lydia Peelle Named Winner of Anahid Literary Prize

NEW YORK—Lydia Peelle is the 2012 winner of the Anahid Literary Prize given by Columbia University’s Armenian Center for her book of short stories Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing. The book was a New York Times Editor’s Choice book and a finalist for the Orion Book Award, and received an honorable mention for the Pen/Hemingway Award. Peelle was the recipient of a Whiting Award in 2010, was recognized by the National Book Foundation as a “5 under 35” honoree in 2009, and has received numerous fellowships, including the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She received an MFA from the University of Virginia and now lives in Nashville, Tenn.