A short story with a happy ending Anthony Doerr ’99 is full of great stories. Like the time he worked at a fish packing plant in Alaska. Or when he helped at a New Zealand sheep farm. The most recent tale he can tell, however, is perhaps his most impressive to date: This BGSU grad, globetrotter and author received two major fiction prizes this spring. It started in March when Memory Wall, Doerr’s worldspanning short story collection about memory, won the prestigious Story Prize, established seven years ago for collections of short fiction originally published in the United States. A month later, The Deep, set in Depression-era Detroit and featuring a boy not expected to live to adulthood because of a heart condition, beat out stiff competition to win the United Kingdom’s Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. At more than $48,000, it is the world’s largest cash prize for short fiction. Raised in rural Novelty, Ohio, the son of a science teacher said his work is about the intersections between the human and natural worlds. “I’ve spent my whole career arguing that the science building doesn’t necessarily have to be at the opposite end of campus from the liberal arts building,” Doerr said. “I can make any character interested in anything that I’m interested in, whether it’s snowflakes or ants or stars or the way mountains are formed.” Doerr received a Master of Fine Arts from BGSU and was named one of the 100 Most Prominent Alumni last year. In addition to short fiction, he has penned a novel, a memoir, and science columns for the Boston Globe. The 37-year-old lives in Boise, Idaho, with his wife and twin sons.
He credits generous BGSU faculty with showing him just how much work it takes to make a story great through the revision process. Wendell Mayo, a professor of creative writing and literature, said part of what makes Doerr superb is what BGSU tries to nurture in all its students: uniqueness. “We want to develop writers in their own way,” Mayo said.
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