William Orem

William Orem writes about spiritual quest and philosophical questions.

His first collection of stories, Zombi, You My Love, won the GLCA New Writers Award, formerly given to Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, Richard Ford and Alice Munro.

His second collection, Across the River, won the Texas Review Novella Prize.

His first novel, Killer of Crying Deer, won the Eric Hoffer Award, and has been optioned for film.

His first collection of poems, Our Purpose in Speaking, won the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize and was published by MSU Press. It also won the Rubery International Book Prize and was chosen Book of the Year.

His second novel, Miss Lucy, won the Gival Press Novel Award, and was listed by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2019.

He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and once by invitation of the committee.

Meanwhile, his short plays have been performed around the country and internationally, winning both the Critics’ Prize and Audience Favorite Award at Durango Theatre Fest, and thrice being nominated for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Orem grew up in Maryland and on Capitol Hill, both of which figure regularly in his work. His full-length play THE SEABIRDS, winner of the Manduzmar New Plays Award for 2007, takes place inside a lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay during the Civil War. It has been performed in Boston, Louisiana, and New York, with a staged reading in Manhattan.

Currently he is a Senior Writer-in-Residence at Emerson College. Details at williamorem.com