Dustin Parsons, assistant professor of English, was awarded the American Literary Review Fiction Prize for his story, "What Magic I've Saved." The contest was judged by Hannah Tinti, award-winning author and editor. Of the story, Tinti said: "It reminded me of Raymond Carver’s Why Don’t You Dance? But this piece takes the yard-sale divorce story to another level. The narrator is selling all of his magic tricks—including the box that his wife disappeared into and never returned from. Was it magic, or did his wife simply leave him? The reader is kept on tenterhooks until the very end... I was entranced by the detailing of the magic tricks, as well as the emotional punch as the 'magic' of the couple’s relationship drains away."
