 Alex Frishberg (r) accepts the prize money as winner of the 2006 Willard Prize for Fiction from Jim Davis, editor of the Ukrainian Observer.
KYIV, July 25 - Alex Frishberg, an attorney who writes fiction as a hobby, has received the 2006 Willard Prize for Fiction. Ukrainian Observer editor Jim Davis presented the $1,500 award on behalf of Michael Willard, CEO of The Willard Group. The short story for which Frishberg was honored, "Life on the Outpost," was published in the Observer (February 2006, p. 18). "Some of the finest fiction writers, while usually identified as Russian, were actually Ukrainian. We hope that the 21st century will see a renewed flowering of Ukrainian fiction writing and we believe this award is an important part of encouraging the regeneration of this great tradition. "The coming year will see Willard Group efforts to promote fiction continue, with a short story by a previously unpublished Ukrainian author appearing in the August issue of the magazine," Jim Davis, the editor of the Observer noted. During the seven-year history of the magazine, efforts to develop fiction on Ukrainian subjects have been consistently promoted with at least one story appearing in virtually every issue. "I feel very proud to have been chosen to receive this award and I hope the Willard Group will continue its efforts to promote fiction writing on subjects relating to Ukraine. Actually, I began taking notes on the day I arrived in Kyiv in October 1991. I wrote down anything that shocked my conscience. After all these years, I collected many real life stories that resulted in a little novel, called The Steel Barons. It's about corruption. There is also a collection of short stories called 'Life on the Outpost.' They're about one person's struggle with increasingly oppressive government. Not exactly light reading, but it's all based on real, everyday life. Hopefully, the readers will like it," Frishberg said.
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