Wolfe Receives Chicago Book Award

Toya Wolfe. Photo by Leicester Mitchell.

Awards continue to pile up for the novelist who is judging the fiction submissions for the 2023 Hal Prize, the Peninsula Pulse’s annual literary contest.

Toya Wolfe was recently awarded the 2023 Chicago Book Award for her debut novel, Last Summer on State Street. The book was also a finalist for the PEN America Literary Awards.

The $25,000 award, administered by the Pattis Family Foundation, “celebrates works that transform public understanding of Chicago, its history and its people.”

“Toya Wolfe’s debut novel is an endearing, memorable and page-turning work with broad appeal and deep ‘Chicago heart,’” said Daniel Greene, former president and librarian of the Newberry Library and a Pattis Award jury member.

Submissions in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and photography are open for the 2023 Hal Prize. Learn more and submit at thehalprize.com/submit.Winning and honorable-mention submissions to the Hal Prize are published in 8142 Review. Copies of Vol. 1 and 2 – which feature the work of the 2021 and 2022 winners, respectively – are available for purchase at doorcountypulse.com/shop.