Winner of the 1991 Before Columbus / American Book Award "Pain is the subject of these stories, but it is not the maudlin, romantic pain found in fiction issuing from 'Creative Writing Therapy' sessions . . . it has humor, the uneasy, unpredictable humor of a Richard Pryor monologue. With Homesick, Berlin can be judged alonside Raymond Carver, Alice Adams, and Bobbie Anne Mason. She is a remarkable writer, especially on life in the new American West." -Keith AbbottFor this, her first major collection, Lucia Berlin gathered the best of her work from 1960 to 1990, including stories from The Atlantic and Saul Bellow's little magazine The Noble Savage and the immortal "My Jockey," winner of the Jack London Short Prize, 1985. "There is nothing tentative about the range of statement in these stories. They are about what can be lost and what can be endured. Berlin's characters are often neglected or abused girls, or women with children who struggle to make ends meet while their husbands, absent or present, provide no help. The strength and endurance of these characters, combined with their daily observations about the pain and drama of life, give them the ability to affirm their existence." -Pat Smith
Author
Berlin began publishing relatively late in life, under the encouragement and sometimes tutelage of poet Ed Dorn. Her first small collection, Angels Laundromat was published in 1981, but her published stories were written as early as 1960. Several of her stories appeared in magazines such as The Atlantic and Saul Bellow’s little magazine The Noble Savage. Berlin published six collections of short stories, but most of her work can be found in three later volumes from Black Sparrow Books: Homesick: New and Selected Stories, So Long: Stories 1987-92 and Where I Live Now: Stories 1993-98. Berlin was never a bestseller, but was widely influential within the literary community. She aspired to Chekhov's objectivity and refusal to judge. She has also been widely compared to Raymond Carver and Richard Yates. One of her most memorable achievements was the stunning one-page story "My Jockey," which captured a world, a moment and a panoramic movement in five quick paragraphs. It won the Jack London Short Prize for 1985. Berlin also won an American Book Award in 1991 for Homesick, and was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
