Congratulations to Mehdi Okasi

BY ANTHONY COOK, Editor-in-Chief

Mehdi Okasi, former editor-in-chief of Sycamore Review, has won the National Society of Arts and Letters annual short story competition. The award comes with a prize of $10,000. That’s the same amount as the Pulitzer! The contest was judged by Arbor Books Publisher Larry Leichman and authors William Luuvas and Lauren Groff. Okasi was honored at the society’s May 22 banquet in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

Okasi edited the journal from 2007 to 2009. His fiction has also appeared in the 2009 Best New American Voices  anthology and elsewhere.

From all of us here at Sycamore Review, congratulations Mehdi!