Melissa Pritchard is the author of eight books of fiction, a biography and a book of essays. Her short story collection, Spirit Seizures, won the Flannery O’Connor Award, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan Award and was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Notable Book of the Year. The Instinct for Bliss, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, was awarded the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and the Claudia Ortese Prize in North American Literature; stories from the collection received Best of the West and Pushcart Prizes. Selene of the Spirits was a Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, and stories from Disappearing Ingenue were awarded Pushcart and O. Henry Prizes. Late Bloomer was a Chicago Tribune “Best Book of the Year,” and The Odditorium was a San Francisco Chronicle “Best Book of the Year,” an O, The Oprah Magazine “Book of the Week,” and a Library Journal “Small Press Best.” Palmerino was a Lambda Literary “New and Noteworthy Book,” a Publisher’s Weekly “Big Indie Book,” one of the ALA’s “Over the Rainbow” top LGBT selections, and a “Top Title” in O, The Oprah Magazine. The first title in Bellevue Literary Press’s series, The Art of the Essay, A Solemn Pleasure was named a “Best Books for Writers” by Poets and Writers, a Publishers Weekly Top Ten in 2015 in the categories of essay, literary biography and criticism, and a “Best Book of 2015” by IMAGE: Art, Faith and Mystery.
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