Mark Powell

Mark Powell holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina and is a rcipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Breadloaf Writers' Conference and the Prague Summer Program. His 2002 novel Prodigals garnered Powell a nomination for the First Novelist's Prize, awarded annually by Virginia Commonwealth University.  Powell's work has been published widely in literary journals such as Ellipsis, The South Carolina Review, Rivendell, Yemassee, and elsewhere. An excerpt from Blood Kin won first place in the 2005 South Carolina Fiction Project, sponsored by the Charleston Post and Courier.

Blood Kin is "a powerful novel--fast paced, riveting, and beautifully crafted," said Jill McCorkle, a professor in the Bennington College M.F.A. in Writing Program. "Mark Powell is a gifted writer who brings to life a family--their loves and losses and triumphs." McCorkle chose the novel from a field of five finalists selected from almost 400 entries.