Two Women With Academic Appointments Win Writers’ Awards from the Rona Jaffe Foundation

The Rona Jaffe Foundation has announced six winners of its annual Writing Awards. The literary awards, which are only given to women who are in the early stages of their writing careers, come with a $30,000 cash prize. The six winners will be honored at a ceremony in New York City on September 15.

Two of the six winners currently teach at major universities.

Lina Maria Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas won an award in the nonfiction category. Her first book – Don’t Come Back – is scheduled for publication by Mad River Books, an imprint of the Ohio State University Press. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and holds a master of fine arts degree in literary translation and creative nonfiction from the University of Iowa. She is currently a visiting assistant professor of creative nonfiction at Ohio State University.

Airea D. Matthews is the author of the poetry collection simulacra, scheduled for publication next year by Yale University Press. She is the assistant director of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. Matthews is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a master of public administration degree and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Michigan.